Gleyber Torres’ Hot Spring a Welcomed Sign with Yanks Needing Bounce-Back Season
Gleyber Torres’ defensive woes at shortstop overshadowed his lackluster offensive performance in 2021, but he’s looking to improve on both sides of the ball this year.
Now back at second base, his natural fit, Torres is one of several Yankees in need of a bounce-back season after he slashed .259/.331/.366 with nine home runs, 50 RBI and a sub-100 wRC+ in 2021. His power has disappeared since hitting a career-high 38 longballs in 2019; Torres has just 12 in 676 plate appearances since then.
The 25-year-old’s spring, however, has built on an encouraging finish to a 2021 campaign Torres would otherwise like to forget. He hit .300 with two homers over 19 games after being shunned from short last Sept. 13. Now he’s hitting .421 (8-19) with two home runs and four RBI over seven spring training games.
Torres’ most recent dinger came on Monday when he jumped on Eduardo Rodriguez’s first pitch in the Yankees’ eventual 11-7 win over the Tigers. Torres, a righty, drove the ball 415 feet to right-center field at 105 mph.
Seven exhibition games hardly make for a sample size, nor does Torres’ end to 2021. However, the Yankees must be praying that this is a sign of things to come, as Torres is not the only member of the club who needs to turn things around this year.
DJ LeMahieu’s production also took a dive last season, while the newly-acquired Josh Donaldson played below his standards (though mostly above that of the Yankees’ 2021 lineup). Aaron Hicks was limited to just 32 games in 2021, while Joey Gallo’s Three True Outcomes approach lacked balance after he was traded to New York. Anthony Rizzo, who was just re-signed, go off to a hot start following his own trade, but he also sputtered down the stretch and has shown signs of decline the last two years.
The Yankees are counting on a lot of bats returning to previous, higher forms in 2022. Keep in mind that Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton were uncharacteristically healthy in 2021, which allowed them to simultaneously thrive, and that New York is sacrificing offense for defense behind the plate this season.
Clearly, the Yankees are asking for a lot from a lot of people. They need more than a few things to break their way if they plan on contending for a championship.
So even if Torres’ hot spring is not an indicative sign of the year that awaits him, it’s certainly a welcomed one for a lineup with some question marks.
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