For the past two years, the New York Yankees shortstop has been the center of conversation as the new Yankee shortstop. Should we trade him? Can he be a replacement for Didi Gregorius? Will he be the shortstop of the future? All those questions have circulated. Earlier in this offseason, the Yankees made it pretty well known that he would remain short or moved to second base, but it was also made clear that he wasn’t going anywhere.
This past week he was the center of attention with the New York Yankees trying to trade with the Cincinnati Reds. The Reds considered a deal that demanded that Gleyber Torres would be included in the trade. No matter how bad the Yankees wanted Luis Castillo on their pitching team, there was no way they would include Torres. They flatly said NO. This is just another indication that Gleyber Torres is their man, no matter where he plays. He is just too talented.
Yes, he needs defensive improvement, and yes, he had a down season like many players in the ugly 2020 shortened season. The Yankees’ bottom line is that they believe he can be a star player for the Yankees considering his development and his team-leading 38 homers in 2019.
Gleyber Torres made his major league debut on April 22, 2018, against the Blue Jays but went hitless. The next day he got his first hit off the Twins. On May 4th, he recorded his first home run. The youngest Yankee to do so since 1969. In 2018 after batting .297 with fifteen home runs, he was selected to the All-Star team. He was named AL player of the week twice. For his sophomore season, on April 4, 2019, Gleyber Torres became the fourth-youngest Yankee with four hits and three extra-base hits in a game since Joe DiMaggio did it in 1936.
On June 29, 2019, he hit the 38th home run of his short career. On August 2nd, he hit his second Grand Slam. To end his 2019 campaign, he batted .278 and led the New York Yankees with 38 home runs with 90 runs batted in. In his two years in the majors, he has been a New York Yankees All-Star twice and has received an MVP nomination. He finished the 2019 campaign he ended with 62 home runs for his three-year career and 167 RBIs.
Like many players for several unknown reasons, Torres had a pretty lousy season. At one time, he led the league in errors at short, and his hitting was off all season as he reportedly was not ready for the season when it started after a stop and start training period. After 38 home runs in 2019 in the short season, he hit only three. The Yankees feel and hope this was just an anomaly, and he will return to form this season. Yankee manager Aaron Boone said that Torres would be ready to play after the misstep last season at a high level to begin the season.