Yankees make strange batting order change ahead of series Vs Tampa Bay

gleyber torres, yankees

It’s no secret that New York Yankees second baseman Gleyber Torres has been struggling this month, but today Aaron Boone will look to try something new to get him out of his funk, by batting him leadoff.

For the month of August, Torres has posted a -23 wRC+, to go with a .352 OPS across 48 PAs. The Yankees’ offense as a whole has been sputtering as of late, and this new look could shake this up just enough.

Leadoff Gleyber Torres is something I hadn’t thought I’d see, but why not give it a go?

Torres’ 2.1% BB Rate for the month leads to an interesting choice for a leadoff guy, but hopefully Torres
can set the table for Judge and Rizzo. Gleyber has spent the majority of this season batting 4-6
in the lineup (79/103 games in those spots) but this could be something we see more of if DJ
LeMahieu is injured.

The Yankees are trying to get healthier but Lemahieu’s injury complicates things:

LeMahieu’s injury comes at a rather complicated time for the Bombers, who are already trying to
get by following the injuries to both Giancarlo Stanton (Achilles) and Matt Carpenter (fractured
foot) over the past few weeks.

Hopefully, Torres can provide the spark the lineup has been desperately needing, and maybe send one into the seats. Gleyber has smashed 16 HR this year and was on fire for the months of June and July, but this month he has been struggling to get anything going.

If Torres can slot into the leadoff spot going forward, that would allow for this team to take a completely different approach than they’ve been utilizing. Hopefully, DJ’s right-toe injury isn’t something that sidelines him or finds him on the IL, but Gleyber is the guy that the team needs to step up regardless.

Today’s LU vs TB:

  1. Gleyber
  2. Judge
  3. Rizzo
  4. Donaldson
  5. Andujar
  6. Benintendi
  7. Trevino
  8. IKF
  9. Hicks