Once the top prospect of the New York Yankees organization, Gleyber Torres, has been a very different baseball player since his MLB debut. If you compare the numbers from his 2018 and 2019 seasons with last year, you would be confused.
Gleyber and the other three players were acquired in 2016 from the Cubs in exchange for Aroldis Chapman (LHP). At the time, this trade was a win-win situation. The Yankees got the Cubs’ top prospect, and Chicago used Chapman to win a World Series and end a 108-year title drought.
Torres came to the show in 2018, playing 123 games that season. In 431 at-bats, he slashed .271/.340/.480 with 77 RBI and 24 home runs. These numbers made him an All-Star that season and a finalist for the American League Rookie of the Year award, won by Shohei Ohtani.
In 2019, Gleyber exceeded expectations batting .278/.337/.585 with 90 RBI and 38 bombs. He became an instant Yankees favorite. He was also great in the postseason. Unfortunately, the team lost the ALCS to the Houston Astros.
Well, here comes the fun part. The Yankees lost Didi Gregorius for the 2020 season so, instead of getting a new shortstop, Brian Cashman (New York’s GM) picked up DJ LeMahieu in free agency. LeMahieu, as of today, has played 11 seasons at second base. So the solution for this conundrum? Move Gleyber to short.
We don’t know how Gleyber Torres was handling learning a new position with the New York Yankees, but his numbers kind of shout that there was an issue.
In the short 2020 season, Gleyber went .243/.356/.368 with 16 RBI and three homers.
In 2021, the whole season, he slashed .259/.331/.366 with 51 RBI and only nine home runs in 459 at-bats. Just nine homers. Only nine. His Isolated Power (ISO) went from .256 in 2019 to .107 last season. His WAR also plummeted from 3.6 to 0.8. He also committed 27 fielding errors at short between the previous two seasons.
The good news is that the Yankees got a shortstop a couple of weeks ago, Isiah Kiner-Falefa. New York acquired him and Josh Donaldson by trading Gary Sanchez and Gio Urshela to the Minnesota Twins.
Speaking of Sanchez, last year was a trial year for him. New York had high expectations with the catcher, but they fell through.
Gleyber Torres might be on that boat this season. His numbers need to improve if he wants to remain in pinstripes, especially with his power. The nickname of the team is the Bronx Bombers, you know.
His numbers have looked good in spring training. He has two homers in 19 at-bats. But it’s spring, so will those numbers translate over to the regular season?