Stirrup Success: New Lineup Spot Yields Strong Early Returns for Jason Torres

TUSCALOOSA, Ala.— Alabama baseball needed to win its home series against Missouri this past weekend for numerous reasons, including enhanced postseason possibilities, keeping pace in the SEC standings and, frankly, also due to the fact that the Tigers were winless in league play.

The No. 18 Crimson Tide (35-10, 12-9 SEC) got it done in sweeping fashion, adding three home conference wins to its ledger entering the final month of regular season action. Third baseman Jason Torres contributed two home runs: one each in game two and three of the series.

Torres, a Miami transfer whose 2024 season was cut short at 39 games due to injury, has hit at multiple spots in the middle of Alabama's order in 2025 (including cleanup). Over the weekend, head coach Rob Vaughn penciled him in at eighth on the lineup card.

The third baseman has been struggling at the plate during SEC play. At one point in a road series at LSU from April 17-19, he struck out nine consecutive times, recording a golden sombrero in the series opener. Torres has started all 45 games, being a reliable presence, but he needed a spark.

He got it last Friday in game two against the Tigers, blasting a seventh-inning solo home run to the scoreboard in left field at Sewell-Thomas Stadium. Head coach Rob Vaughn credited Torres with landing the crucial blow in a 7-3 win; Torres' shot was the contest's final run on both sides.

"He clearly had a plan there," Vaughn said after the game. "He took a blacked-out heater away, then got the hanging breaking ball and was as on time as I've seen him for a long time... I think he would tell you, holistically, he just hasn't been consistently on time for the last week and a half. You finally saw him have a plan, execute a plan, be on time and go get it."

Torres followed it up with another home run, a second solo in as many games, during an eight-run bottom of the second inning the next day. The Crimson Tide won 12-1 in seven innings, securing a sweep, the first home sweep of SEC play in Alabama's 2025 season.

He has also begun wearing stirrups. Baseball is well-known as a game with plenty of superstitions. Players don't like changing things up when times are rolling, and the big weekend was what the doctor ordered for Torres. To that end, it's probable that the stirrups will stick around.

"I think so, more than likely yes," Vaughn said with a laugh on Saturday when asked whether Torres' new stirrups were here to stay. "He was good, man. He was on time with that first one and slammed it. It was good to see. Like I said, he had a seven-or-eight game stretch where he really scuffled a little bit. But that's what professional players do, man. They just stay in the fight and keep coming."

Torres is one of three Alabama players with double-digit home runs on the season; his 10 are third-best on the team behind shortstop Justin Lebron (15, a team high) and first baseman Will Hodo (12; he's hit four over the past week). Torres' average stands at .276 in 163 at-bats.

To an objective observer, it would seem that the Crimson Tide's corner infield starters have instituted a home run derby among themselves, with six combined in the past four games. Three SEC series remain until Hoover; Alabama travels to Vanderbilt this weekend. If better days have truly dawned for Torres at the dish, it's a boon for the Crimson Tide's fortunes from May onwards.

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