The New York Yankees have been struggling considerably on offense, but starting second baseman Gleyber Torres has performed well over the past few weeks. In April, Torres started the 2022 season with a .237 average and 27.7% on base rate. He has elevated those numbers in the month of May to .247 with a 28.6% on base rate. In fact, Torres has posted eight hits and four home runs in 28 at-bats over his last seven games, finally hitting his stride.
However, manager Aaron Boone stated that Torres was dealing with a minor wrist injury on Sunday. This only piles on the pressure after the roster was decimated by injury last week.
“He’s been getting some treatment for his wrist, but it hasn’t been something that’s really affected him much at all in the game,” manager Aaron Boone said before Sunday’s game, per the NY Post. “Just something he’s treating and making sure he does maintenance work on it.”
Torres has been showcasing his resiliency and toughness, playing through the injury and succeeding in the process. This season, he ranks in the 95th percentile in average exit velocity, 89th percentile in hard-hit rate, and 92nd percentile in xSLG.
Gleyber Torres is making great contact:
The 25-year-old infielder has been struggling to find his 2019 form over the past three seasons. He posted 38 homers and 90 RBIs during his sophomore campaign in the MLB, but he hit just .259 last year with nine homers. He’s failed to touch double-digit long balls in a season since 2019, but he’s destined to break that number this year, having hit nine already.
Gleyber’s slugging percentage is the highest it’s been since 2019 at .467. His strikeout rate is down to 18.3%, but he’s walking at just a 4.9% rate, down from 9.7% last year. However, his hard-hit rate is at 48% and is recording a 9.6% barrel rate. His exit velocity sits at 92.7 mph and has the highest launch angle at 18.9° since his rookie season back in 2018.
On paper, Torres is performing well in the batter’s box, and his luck is finally starting to shift after a tough opening two months to the season. Defensively, Torres has predominantly featured at second base. He’s committed two errors over 327.1 innings. His .987 fielding percentage is the best in his career, indicating he’s taking a step forward in that category. Once again, the Yankees can begin relying on Torres as their long-term solution at 2B, but they cannot shift him back over to shortstop.