New York Yankees prized prosepct Gleyber Torres is ready to join the big club, showing no ill signs of last year’s Tommy John procedure.
Tyler Wade is scuffling, hitting only .094 on the season.
Brandon Drury is still downed by migraines.
Miguel Andujar has yielded tepid results.
What a play at third by Gleyber Torres. Charged in and to his right, then fired a strong, accurate, offbalance throw to first to get the runner.
(Replays showed he was safe, but there's no review in the minors).
— Conor Foley (@RailRidersTT) April 15, 2018
But the prize of the New York Yankees farm system, the supremely gifted infielder Gleyber Torres, known to flash the leather on occasion, is currently raking with Scranton-Wilkes Barre Railriders.
In 36 at-bats over nine games going into Sunday, Torres, the focal piece of a deal with the Chicago Cubs that sent Aroldis Chapman to the North Side in 2016, has mustered a triple-slash line of .389/.410/.583, forcing the Yankees to act on his ascension sooner than later.
Gleyber Torres ripped this 3-2 pitch for a triple. pic.twitter.com/l41RrvoA7K
— Conor Foley (@RailRidersTT) April 10, 2018
Should they feel the desire to do so, the Yankees can control Torres until 2025 if they are patient enough to call him up until after Wednesday.
Here’s Gleyber Torres’ first homer of the season. pic.twitter.com/NvxfuM4lni
— Conor Foley (@RailRidersTT) April 7, 2018
Along with Shonei Ohtani, Ronald Acuna, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette, Gleyber Torres, the number five rated prospect in the majors according to MLB.com, ushers in a youth movement for New York, a club well under the luxury tax threshold with only one truly bad contract on the payroll (Jacoby Ellsbury’s), who is looking to contend with the defending champion Houston Astros for the American League pennant.
Amidst injuries (Drury, Greg Bird and Aaron Hicks, who returned with a fury, hitting two homers, one inside and one without the park, against the Detroit Tigers on Friday night), slow starts (Giancarlo Stanton and Gary Sanchez), and otherwise confounding performances (Wade), New Yorkâs lineup has chugged along, due in part to the collective brilliance of Didi Gregorius and Aaron Judge, both managing an OPS of over 1.000. The addition of a Torres deepens the lineup and provides versatility at three infield positions (third, a position Torres manned in four straight starts at SWB, second, and shortstop) that should ultimately solidify the Yankees up the middle, with Didi and Sanchez already there and centerfielder Estevan Florial set to join them, when Torres settles in at second base.
Although he was not expected until after the All-Star break, Torres is likely to join the big club before the month of April is out, giving Yankee fans another young talent to cheer, if not utterly swoon over.