I have been hard on Gleyber Torres over the last two years. Perhaps it's because my expectations for him were high. I mean I have high expectations for all baseball players, but I seem to pick on Torres a bit more. His fielding needed work. He put in the work. He really was more suited for second base than shortstop and he got his wish. He kept his head in the batter's box and that persistence is paying off. I could not be happier for Gleyber Torres. He is having a great start to a potentially excellent season.
As the New York Post accurately wrote, "The Yankees have been waiting for more than two years for the old Gleyber Torres to show up. He gave another indication that might be closer to happening on Monday against the Blue Jays, when he drove in all three runs in a 3-2 win at Rogers Centre." My son said in a very simple text following the Yankee win on Monday night, "Good Gleyber."
“He has the ability to use the entire field,’’ Boone said of the second baseman who not long ago seemed like one of the premier hitters in the game. “When he walked up there, I was thinking ‘There’s no one better right now’ and he put a great swing [on it],” reported the Post.
But it is not just his performance on Monday night. He seems to have more confidence defensively and offensively this season. Like he got some swagger because he put in the necessary work in the off season.
"The pitches that Torres has been hitting have been heading north. He tweaked his swing this offseason in an effort to get more balls in the air, which he and the Yankees identified as a problem the past two years. In his down seasons of 2020 and 2021, he registered ground-ball rates of 41.7 percent and 41.8 percent, respectively, which represented big spikes from his first two major league seasons," reported The New York Post.
Torres credits consistency for his plate performance and for swinging the way he did two years ago. He did start off the season slow but heading into Tuesday night's game Torres has nine RBIs in his last six games after recording only three in his first 15 games of the season.
As an exercise to see how hard I was on Gleyber Torres in pieces in recent years, I was actually surprised at how optimistic I was in his opportunities to grow. In fact, I felt perhaps that everyone was putting a little too much pressure on the kid to perform. For fun, feel free to read this winter's INFIELD CONUNDRUM—HOW GLEYBER TORRES' PERFORMANCE MAKES ALL OF THE DIFFERENCE, last year's LIKE A GOOD GLEYBER, TORRES IS THERE! and 2018'S DID THE YANKS PUT TOO MUCH PRESSURE ON GLEYBER TORRES?
The Yankees are hot right now. They are playing small ball. They are hitting with runners in scoring position. They are pitching well. They look like a championship team. And I couldn't be happier for them and for the fans. But today's piece highlights the performance of Gleyber Torres. Glad to see you playing so well. Keep the energy going and stay resilient.
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--Suzie Pinstripe
BYB Senior Managing Editor
Twitter: @suzieprof
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