Yankees star finally turning things around with productive August

MLB: Cleveland Guardians at New York Yankees, gleyber torres
Credit: John Jones-USA TODAY Sports

New York Yankees infielder Gleyber Torres hit 24 and 25 home runs in 2022 and 2023, respectively. He posted .761 and .800 OPS marks, establishing himself as a solid, above-average offensive second baseman and showing a nice potential floor for his contract year in 2024.

To everyone’s surprise, he opened the year with a .550 OPS in March/April. People, of course, were concerned about the lack of production.

The Yankees’ infielder bounced back somewhat in May with a .744 OPS, but slumped in June (.689) as did the entire team. He wasn’t much better in July (.709), but is finally starting to show signs of an extended period of nice production at the plate this month.

Yankees: Gleyber Torres is scorching hot in his last 10

After homering again on Monday against the Washington Nationals, he reached 12 on the season and his line is up to a .242/.320/.364 and a .684 OPS. It might not seem like much especially considering what he did in the last two campaigns prior to 2024, but given the fact that OPS was in the .630s range in mid-June, he has slowly come a long way.

MLB: Oakland Athletics at New York Yankees, gleyber torres
Credit: Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports

As of Tuesday morning, Torres’ August OPS is a fine .778, with a .296 batting average and home runs in each of his last two games. But that’s not the best part: over his last 10 games, he has given the Yankees some nice numbers, slashing .316/.435/.526 with a .961 OPS.

If Torres can resemble the player he was in 2023 and 2024, he would be giving the Yankees’ lineup more length and quality. For months, fans complained that the batting order was Aaron Judge, Juan Soto, and some mediocre role players — and they were mostly right.

Now, with Torres heating up, Giancarlo Stanton back from injury and producing, trade acquisition Jazz Chisholm Jr. making a good impression, and Austin Wells breaking out, the lineup looks much more dangerous and deep.

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