A Shift in Positions
Another concern in Yankees’ land is that Gleyber is moving from short to second. Will he be able to handle it?
This, however, seems like the least likely barrier to success. In a game full of shifts and defensive replacements, Gleyber has fielded many balls at second in the last two full seasons he played.
And the Yankees have been planning for this. Torres split his time between second and short in the Arizona Fall League in 2016 and was good enough at both to bring home the MVP. That planning continued last season as Torres played ten of his 53 games at the position last year, five at Triple-A.
There he posted a pedestrian .938 Fielding Percentage (FP). Had he done so for the Yankees, he would have tied Minnesota Twins’ Ehire Adrianza for 149th, and he only started three games at second.
A Slightly Better Known Player
But life is about perspective; consider Brian Dozier. The Twins primary second baseman last year (151 starts) led all MLB players at the position with a .993. But it wasn’t always like that.
He, too, posted a .938 FP at Triple-A Rochester in 2012, at second. But he only played four games at the position that year, spending the rest of his time at short; that included his 84 games with the Twins.
By the start of the next season, though, the Twins had seen enough to move him to second; he posted a .992.
Of course, there are many differences between the two players. But the main one is age. Brian was 25 when he posted his .938 FP at Triple-A; Gleyber was 20.
Torres will have to show that his defense at the position has improved, but as long as he is somewhere in the middle of the statistical pack by the end of training camp, the Yankees will likely let him finish his development with MLB coaching.
Some observers, though, see a much bigger problem.