Gleyber Torres’ hot month of May paid off as he took home the American League Rookie of the Month for May 2018.
For the past two seasons, the New York Yankees have been swimming in talented rookies. This year has been no exception thus far.
Saturday afternoon, it was announced that Gleyber Torres was named the American League’s Rookie of the Month for the month of May. The only other winner this year was Shohei Ohtani, the phenom on the Los Angeles Angels.
You called. He answered. pic.twitter.com/3Kr85KPFOi
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) June 2, 2018
Honestly, this was so well-deserved by Torres. The 21-year-old second baseman has been nothing short of phenomenal both on the field and at the plate during his audition this season. It seems they have undeniably found their second baseman of the future.
In 24 games in May, Torres hit nine home runs. Nine. From a rookie who is not known for his power. He also batted .317 during this time frame.
Perhaps what was most impressive about his performance is that he was also averaging an RBI a game.
During his impressive month, he also went through a stretch where he hit six home runs in six games, including four games in a row. He also had two walk-off hits during the month of May, one against the Cleveland Indians and one against the defending champion Houston Astros.
And he is the not the first Yankee to gain this award. In the past 13 months, the Yankees have had five winners, the most by any team.
Gary Sanchez took the award in August of 2016 and Aaron Judge took the award in the months of April, May, June and September of the 2017 season.
Torres is in pretty elite company and hasn’t shown any signs of slowing down anytime soon.
For the regular season as a whole, Torres is posting a .325/.380/.598 line and has 27 RBI from the ninth position in the batting order. That is incredible for this young kid.
This is likely the first of many awards for him and if he keeps this up, that Rookie of the Year award is all his.
