Manager Boone still believes in Torres as club’s shortstop

NEW YORK — Gleyber Torres still has a chance to prove he can be the Yankees’ shortstop of the future, at least in his manager’s eyes. After a less than stellar first season as the Yankees’ everyday starting shortstop, Torres certainly left the door open to questions about his future in the position.

This season, Torres looked bulky and slow at shortstop, but Aaron Boone believes in him.

“I know we can move him back over to second base and he’s going to be really good over there,’’ Boone said in a recent YES Network interview. “But I still feel like there’s a chance that he can become a really good shortstop for us moving forward. It’s a demanding and difficult position and I think sometimes we lose sight of just how young Gleyber is and howmuchsuccess he’s had at such a young age at the big-league level.’’

There is no doubt Torres is a talented baseball player. In two of his first three seasons in the big leagues, Torres was an All-Star. In the 2020, coronavirus-abbreviated season, however, he had an all-around disappointing year.

Torres had nine errors at shortstop in the regular season, tied for the second most at that position in the majors, and two in the playoffs. He posted a -9 defensive runs saved and a -4 outs above average. He was in the bottom two percentile in outs above average, according to Baseball Savant.

Torres came into the season knowing he would be the Yankees starting shortstop — a chance to return to the position he played as a kid and where he played as he came up through the minor leagues. Torres came into the 2019 expecting to play second base, even as Didi Gregorius missed the first part of the season after Tommy John surgery, because the Yankees had signed Troy Tulowitzski to allow Torres to continue to grow as a second baseman. It didn’t play out that way after Tulowitzski got injured early and Torres played 77 games at shortstop until Gregorius returned.

The 23-year-old posted a -12 defensive runs saved and a -3 outs above average.

Still, the Yankees t hought t he young infielder, whose bat was explosive last season, could grow into the position. It also allowed them to give second base to DJ LeMahieu, who was already the Yankees MVP.

Torres spent the offseason working with infield coach Carlos Mendoza to try and prepare, but scouts said he did not look ready to take over the position this year.

“He looks heavy, his range isn’t great,” one American League scout said. “His arm is fine, but I just don’t see him sticking there.”

The Yankees now have 138 games over three seasons to see that Torres has not grown defensively and there are some that think they should consider moving him back to second base, where he was a better fit for them.

Boone, however, is not in that camp, and said they needed to help Torres.

“It’s incumbent on all of us to work alongside him to help him realize’’ his potential, Boone said. But Torres’ full potential could beat second base, wherehis bat played better was well.

Torres’ bat wasn’t exactly explosive in 2020. He hit .243/.356/.368, career lows in batting average and slugging percentage. While his strikeout percentage was down for the third straight year, a good sign, his production was down sharply from 2019. He hit three home runs in 136 at-bats and his OPS dropped to .724. Torres suffered a leg injury and played in just 40 of the 60 games this year.

“There aren’t any real red flags there for me,” one American League rival scout said. “I think that is more a result of him missing some time (to a leg injury) in a short season. His power numbers are down, but that is more about the short season to me. I think he would have found it and returned to somewhat normal production over a regular, 162-game season.”