One could understand if the Baltimore Orioles never wanted to see Gleyber Torres again after the 2019 season. The Yankees’ infielder was a one man wrecking crew against Baltimore that year, belting 13 homers in his 75 plate appearances. Amazingly, the Orioles only intentionally walked him once although he clearly feasted on their pitching staff.
Given the way that Torres destroyed the hopes and dreams of the Orioles’ pitchers in 2019, one would have imagined that he would have continued that success. Even with the pandemic shortened season, the unbalanced schedule and focus on divisional matchups would seemingly allow Torres to cause more damage to the Orioles.
Baltimore Orioles keeping Gleyber Torres in the yard
That has not been the case. Torres was shut out in the home run department in 2020, a strange season due to the pandemic. He only started six of the Yankees ten games against the Orioles, failing to hit a homer in his 23 plate appearances. Although he produced an excellent .333/.478/.500 batting laine against the Orioles, they were able to keep him in the park.
Now that the Yankees are done facing the Orioles for the 2021 season, Baltimore no longer has to worry about Torres. Once again, he performed well, posting a .339/.394/.424 batting line in his 66 plate appearances, but he again failed to homer.
As a whole, Torres’ power has decreased dramatically since 2019. After hitting 38 homers that season, he has a total of ten home runs in the past two seasons. His other offensive numbers have tailed off as well, as he has posted a 91 OPS+ in that span. Clearly, there is more at work than the Orioles’ sudden ability to keep him in the yard.
But Torres had been able to use the Orioles to inflate his numbers before. As they are now able to keep him in the park, his other numbers are predictably lower. If he was able to be even half the player against Baltimore that he had been in 2019, his overall production may be viewed in a different light.
Gleyber Torres’ numbers have dropped off since 2019. Meanwhile, the Baltimore Orioles have held him in check since that year. The two may be related.