Milkmen’s ‘Shark’ flirts with .400 average
Bryan Torres hunts alone and the baseball field is his ocean.
When he swims into the batter's box, he feasts on pitchers as if they were baby seals. He bites off one hit at a time.
There are whispers throughout the league about El Tiburon.
Or as Milwaukee Manger Anthony Barone puts it:
“He's like a shark when there's blood in the water . ... It's just uncanny,” Barone said. “He's laser focused with men on base. He loves driving runs in. He loves creating havoc on the bases. He's just a multidimensional offensive player and defensive player.”
Torres, "El Tiburon" or "The Shark," plays in a league known for its big home runs and power pitching, but in his first season with the Milkmen, he's putting up record numbers as the leadoff hitter for the Milkmen.
Entering play Thursday, he led the league in both batting average (.392) and in hits (131) in 83 games.
At the start of a game, Torres circles the pitcher, mentally, watching his delivery, his motion.
“I study the pitcher and I know the pitcher's plan,” Torres said. “I've got a plan and I always, always focus on swinging early, in the middle and making good contact with the ball.”
But there's only so much that can be seen while waiting to step in the box.
“The challenge is if he has movement,” Torres said adding he'll switch his approach if he thinks a curveball or breaking ball is coming. “And if I'm uncertain (of the pitch) then I'll work the corners. I look for if he's throwing higher or lower.”
As the Milkmen head into the final homestand of the season and in second place in East Division of the independent American Association, Barone is counting on Torres to contribute in the postseason.
“When he's going into that batter's box he's ultra-confident in himself that he's better than the pitcher,” Barone said. “He fully believes he's going to go in there and do something special all time.”
The American Association for Professional
Baseball record for average in a season is .406 set by Blake Gailen in 2011.
“After a while, it can't keep going unnoticed, what he's doing,” Barone said. “It's incredible . ... In a way, I feel bad for Bryan, just because you want to see him get a little more publicity but in the other aspect, it's keeping him grounded.”
Torres has already flirted with pulling ahead of the record. On Aug. 12 against the Gary SouthShore RailCats he went 3 for 5 and pushed his average to .401. He kept his average above that mark for the next six games, getting as high as .404.
But Torres is focused on winning games.
“When I'm playing in the field, how I play this game, I want to be productive for the team,” Torres said. “No matter what happened that day, start the next day and focus on what makes you productive for the team.”
But the prospect of Torres hitting .400 has become a hush-hush topic in the Milkmen clubhouse.
“It's something we don't really want to place too much emphasis on,” Barone said. “Baseball is a mental game, too. And if you start seeking out hits, and start worrying about that, it's a tough milestone to achieve. I tell people you have to go 2 for 5 every game just to maintain a .400 average. You go 1 for 3, your average is going down. It's very difficult to maintain a .400 average.”
Torres isn't shy about the possibility of batting .400.
“Of course it's a special number,” Torres said. “When I was at .300 my focus was .380 as a goal. And when I got to .380, I was close to .400, and although it's far, it was effective. Anything is possible if you work for it.”
Caguas ‘the capital of Puerto Rico’
While Puerto Rico might be known for its beaches, Torres was born and raised in Caguas, a city set in a valley surrounded by mountains.
“It's a city that, for me, is the capital of Puerto Rico,” Torres said. “It's a city with a lot of baseball history.”
The Criollos de Caguas are a historic team that once had Roberto Clemente on its roster.
“I came from a middle-class family who loves baseball,” Torres said. “I got turned on to baseball thanks to my older brother who played baseball. Thanks to him, I'm a baseball player.”
Torres remembers his mother taking him and his siblings to the park to play sports.
In 2015, at 17 years old, he was signed by the Milwaukee Brewers and played in the Dominican Summer League. He joined the Brewers rookie squad in 2018 and was with the team until 2021 when he signed with the San Francisco Giants organization.
With the Giants, he got as high as Class AA playing for the Richmond Flying Squirrels before signing with the Milkmen during the offseason.
Although he's not in affiliated baseball, being on a Milwaukee team again makes him feel comfortable.
“It's special to be here in Milwaukee,” Torres said. “This is where the first organization gave me an opportunity to play professionally, and it was a beautiful experience.”
Torres' start to the year was rough. After getting one hit on opening day, he went hitless the next three games and his average sunk to .067.
“I'll be honest, some of the Latin players have a tough time in Milwaukee sometimes due to weather at the beginning of the year,” Barone said. “It's a little colder than Puerto Rico.”
Along with the change in organization, Torres also moved from playing primarily catcher, to second base and center field.
“It shows what an athlete he is,” Barone said. “How many guys can do that? How many catchers do you that can play center field? How many catchers do you know that can play second base? It's just something that makes him Bryan Torres. He's unique.”
Barone started Torres in the ninth spot in the lineup and he became “almost like a second leadoff hitter,” and then the game started slowing down for him.
"Probably 20, 25 games in, he was just too damn good to keep him down there,” Barone said. “We decided to move him to leadoff and since then he's come into his own.”
In the 83 games he's played this season entering Thursday, Torres has only gone hitless in 11 and had a 22-game hitting streak through July and into August.
“He's the MVP of the league right now,” Barone said. “That's something that I hope doesn't go unnoticed, when it comes to voting for things. If the season ended right now, he's the MVP. There's no doubt in my mind.”