TORONTO — Gleyber Torres appears like, properly, Gleyber Torres. Not the Gleyber Torres the Yankees fretted about over the earlier two seasons. He appears nothing like the child that was struggling to make routine performs at shortstop and taking these struggles to the plate. No. Torres appears extra just like the 2018-19 model of himself, taking part in second base with confidence that carries over to the batter’s field.
Torres hit two line-drive doubles Friday evening and is hitting .327/.400/.673 with 11 runs scored, 5 doubles, 4 house runs and 7 RBI over his final 14 video games.
“It’s probably taking a little bit of pressure off of him overall, which probably has helped his offense a little bit, although probably not to the degree that maybe the narrative might suggest,” Yankees supervisor Aaron Boone stated of Torres enjoyable now that he’s taking part in second base moderately than shortstop. “He’s a really good offensive player and he’s made some quality adjustments that have gotten him to this point.”
The distinction between Torres at shortstop and second base is fairly stark. Torres went into Saturday afternoon’s sport towards the Blue Jays on the Rogers Centre with three errors in 193 possibilities. He has 7 defensive runs saved at second base, which is a big swing in comparison with the -10 defensive runs saved he had final season at shortstop, in response to FanGraphs. He dedicated 18 errors at shortstop final season, eight fielding and 10 throwing.
“Well, shortstop is a tougher position,” Boone stated. “To be a big-league shortstop, it’s akin to being a great cornerback. It’s a premium position that not many people can play at a high level at this level. I think probably [Torres’] skillset lines up a little bit more for second base.”
“I still think [Torres] has a skillset in a pinch to go over there [to shortstop] because he has arm strength and he’s got good hands,” Boone continued. “Hopefully at some point we’ll get him over there to keep that option going, but I think he’s played outstanding this year and obviously he’s swung the bat really well for us.”
The Yankees ended the Torres at shortstop experiment on Sept. 13 and nearly instantly noticed him start the transformation again to his previous self. At the tip of the season, GM Brian Cashman made it clear that he was available in the market to land an on a regular basis shortstop, ending hypothesis about Torres on the place. They have discovered a pleasant, strong, athletic stopgap on the place in Isiah Kiner-Falefa, who they traded for this spring. Kiner-Falefa can deal with the place till one of many Yankees’ high prospects — Oswald Peraza or Anthony Volpe — are prepared.
Torres had began out as a shortstop in baseball and was one of the vital highly-touted shortstop prospects as a minor leaguer. After the change, nevertheless, Torres accepted that he was higher off at second base.
Torres’ time because the Yankees’ beginning shortstop coincided together with his worst offensive struggles. After hitting 38 homers and slashing .278/.337/.535 in 2019, Torres hit simply 12 house runs within the 169 video games he performed over the 2020 and 2021 seasons.
It’s not simply the change of positions although.
Torres was embarrassed by his final two years and that started a strategy of rediscovery on the plate.
He headed straight to Tampa final winter and instantly started working with new hitting coach Dillon Lawson, who was nonetheless the minor league hitting coordinator on the time. He watched movies of his swing in 2018-19 and he informed Lawson that he simply wished to be like that once more.
Torres went into Saturday’s sport hitting .254/.304/.497 with an .801 OPS. He has 12 house runs in 58 video games. A dramatic enchancment is in what number of balls he’s hitting exhausting now, his Hard Hit share is up from 35.7% in 2021 to 48.4% this season. He’s barreling the ball extra, as his Barrel share is up from 7.8% to 11.1%.
So far, this season he’s wanting extra like that 2018-19 model of himself.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com