New York Yankees: What has happened to Gleyber Torres?

Since a massive 2019 season, New York Yankees shortstop Gleyber Torres has seen significant regression. What has caused this?

When the 2019 season concluded, the New York Yankees looked like they were headed for a long period of success with their new core. The youngest piece of this core, was Gleyber Torres. He had a tremendous 2019, slashing .278/.337/.535, good for a 124 wRC+, and finished 17th in MVP voting after being named an all star for the second straight year. Since then, he has regressed each season, in a strange way.

In 2020, the COVID-19 shortened season messed with a lot of players, such as Christian Yelich, J.D. Martinez, and Yoan Moncada. Gleyber Torres also had his own struggles. While he still posted a 104 wRC+, which is above league average, he saw a huge dip in power production. He finished with a .125 ISO and a .368 SLG,  down from .256 and .535 in 2019.

The most notable difference in his batted ball profile was his barrel% being down almost 7% from 10.1% to 3.7%. However, it can be unfair and misleading to judge a player based on 160 plate appearances, and that is where 2021 comes into play.

In 2021, Torres has taken another step back. His ISO has dropped to .097 and his SLG is .346. While his barrel% has actually risen up to 6.9%, a concerning trend, is a drop in hard hit% and a rise in his ground ball%. The Torres case is even more strange when you evaluate the rest of his skillset besides power.

Since 2019, his plate discipline has actually gotten significantly better. From 2019 to 2020, he saw almost a 6% jump in BB%. While that has dropped about 2% this year. His 11% is still a significant improvement from his first two years. He has also greatly improved his chase rate from 2019 to 2021, seeing a 10% drop. Taking all this into consideration, the only places left to look are Torres performance against individual pitches, specifically fastballs, and his approach.

In 2019, Torres absolutely crushed 4 seam fastballs, finishing with a .703 SLG and .456 wOBA against them. Since then, he has not been very successful. This season, he has seen 418 4 seam fastballs, he has a .320 SLG and .287 wOBA against them. He has also seen regression in his performance against changeups.

To me, this indicates a difference in approach and aggression. In 2019, Torres swing rate was 51.8%. Last season that dropped to 42%, and this year is at 46%. More notably, his first pitch swing % is down from 36.4% in 2019, to 29.3% this year. For an idea of what did he against first pitches in 2019, he slashed .362/.365/.862 against them, with 9 of his 21 hits being home runs. This season, he has just 1 home run on a first pitch. Earlier, I mentioned the increase in walks he has had, which seems like it has been due to a more patient approach. However, this approach has sacrificed power for more walks and a change back may be the best thing for Torres.

While the full season numbers are obviously lackluster, there have been some positive developments since the all star break. In 77 first half games, Torres had 3 home runs. It took him 5 games in the second half to match that total. It is important to remember he is still just 24 and has plenty of time to make adjustments and rediscover that power. Very few players burst onto the scene the way Torres did, and the immediate breakout and high prospect status gave fans sky high expectations for Torres.

While the huge drop in power production is very concerning, the ceiling is still very high for New York Yankees shortstop Gleyber Torres. Considering his hot start in the second half, it will be interesting if he can sustain it and to what degree.