Gleyber Torres was traded to the New York Yankees from the Chicago Cubs as part of the Aroldis Chapman deal on July 25, 2016. That deal marked an important turning point for both ball clubs. The Cubs utilized Chapman as a shutdown closer to end their World Series drought of over a century-long. Meanwhile, this trade, amongst others marked the start of a “rebuild on the fly†type move for the Yankees. The New York Yankees shipped off their aging veterans that had any sort of trade value for young, controllable prospects in order to stay competitive while cutting costs. Many deals were made in these efforts but so far they all pale in comparison to the crown jewel they received from the Cubs. Gleyber Torres!
Gleyber was a highly regarded top prospect that was in the conversation for a top overall prospect in all of baseball at the time. When the trade broke Baseball America had this to say about him:
Torres is “an excellent bet to stay at shortstop because of his soft, quick hands and smooth actions around the bag.†Most exciting, however, is his offensive potential, which is described as “special,†citing his pitch recognition, and “uncanny†ability to put bat on ball, and plus powerâ€.
How great has Torres been for the Yankees?
Fast forward two seasons and there is every reason to believe Torres has so far fulfilled if not surpassed the expectations of the New York Yankees organization. His 38 home runs in 2019 were the most home runs hit by a middle infielder before turning 23 since Alex Rodriguez, and we all know the career he had. Gleyber Torres has certainly achieved star status with the Yankees but there’s evidence to suggest that he could be on the verge of an even higher achievement: Super-stardom.
To contrast Torres’ 2018-2019 seasons offensively, he increased his batting average, home run total, RBI total, OPS (on-base plus slugging percentage), his batting average with runners in scoring position, etc. Across the board as a whole, he has improved his batting lines. Per baseball-reference, Torres has also decreased his strikeout percentage from 25% to 21% showing good signs of an advanced approach at the plate. There is always going to be reason to believe that his offensive production was at the very least a little bit enhanced by the “juiced†ball, but the underlying numbers don’t lie. Torres makes marked improvement from season to season offensively. For further evidence, you can take a look at his minor league career for three years prior to reaching the big leagues in 2018. Albeit smaller sample sizes, he had shown the refined approach of a player adapting to a higher level of competition in each of the seasons leading up to his big league debut.
On the opposite side of the diamond, Torres has always been graded as an average if not slightly below average fielder. We can look at both UZR/DRS as evidence. Per MLB.com UZR, or Ultimate Zone Rating quantifies a player’s entire defensive performance by attempting to measure how many runs a defender saved. It takes into account errors, range, outfield arm, and double-play ability. DRS or Defensive Runs Saved quantifies a similar result. From 2018-2019, Torres’ UZR at second base improved from -7.7 to -4.2 while his UZR at shortstop went from -2.6 to -2.1. A rating of “0†would be average so it shows that Gleyber is a slightly below average fielder at both positions. However, each of the last two seasons he has made improvements in his fielding so you could project that he should be able to continue that trend going forward into the 2020 season especially considering he’ll only be 24 years old and not even reaching the prime of his career yet. Gleyber’s DRS rating from 2018-2019 at second base went from -1 to -7 however his DRS at shortstop painted a better picture going from 0 to 1. Again, taking into account that “0†is average, depending on which analytics you prefer, Gleyber can be viewed as an average fielder give or take. Given his young age and the fact that he will only have to focus on playing one position (shortstop) this season, he should be able to build on the progress he’s made each year.
If Gleyber continues to make adjustments and play up to his potential, the Yankees will have no choice but to look at signing their superstar to an extension and keep him in Pinstripes for his hopefully long career.