Among the great storylines of this Yankees season has been the resurgence of second baseman Gleyber Torres.
courtesy/ New York Yankees
Torres, 25, has had a rough couple of seasons. The pandemic-shortened 2020 season nearly derailed Torres’ once promising career. He admitted to getting a little out of shape after spring training was stopped and had a difficult time ramping back up once a the season resumed.
The Yanks also unsuccessfully experimented with moving Torres to shortstop. Standard fielding metrics as well as the eyeball test indicated Torres wasn’t going to last at short. Torres had nine errors in just 40 games in 2020. Then doubled that with 18 in 2021. Gleyber’s offensive slash lines weren’t great. In 2020, he slashed .243/.356/.368 with an ISO of .125. In 2021, he slashed .259/.331/.366 with an even-worse ISO on .107. He struck out 20% of the time.
Through 60 games of 2022, new-dad Gleyber Torres looks like a different player. He looks like a player deserving both an all-star selection and a contract extension. He’s slashing .267/.314/.524. His slugging percentage is incredible. He’s cut down his strikeout percentage to 18% and his ISO is an unreal .257. He’s no longer rolling over on pitches and weekly grounding to short. He’s barreling the baseball at 11.9% clip, up from just 7.8% in 2021. The wonderful thing about the advanced metrics at Fangraphs is that it solidifies what you’ve been watching this year. And that’s Gleyber Torres is back.
Gleyber being awesome again is one of my favorite stories from this season. Maybe moreso than Jose Trevino from nowhere or Clay Holmes turning into an out-of-this-world closer. I’ve enjoyed watching him hit walk-offs. His base running is also greatly improved. That could be because Luis Rojas is a tremendous upgrade over Phil Nevin. But watching him score the other day seconds after Giancarlo Stanton was gutsy and heads-up baseball. I’m going to keep an eye on Gleyber Torres the rest of the way and you should as well. Give him your vote and get him to LA!
