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Gary Sanchez: If Gleyber Torres doesn’t start ’17 in majors, he’s close

The Gleyber Torres train continues to roll through the Grapefruit League, and it’s picking up more and more steam. After hitting his second home run of the spring, Torres added a double and three RBI’s to his ledger Tuesday against the Rays, improving his spring slash line to .455/.458/.1000.

The 20-year-old Torres is following up on his Arizona Fall League MVP performance and his No. 3 prospect ranking by dominating spring ball going 10-for-22 with four doubles, a triple, and two home runs.

The Torres-to-the-Bronx timeline speculation has been the talk of Yankees camp since he received his invitation to spring training, and all he has done is further the debates. Aside from his coaches, scouts and the media covering him each day, now future teammate Gary Sanchez is weighing in on the Torres phenomenon.

When asked about his thoughts on Torres joining the big league club, Sanchez replied to Mike Mazzeo of the New York Daily News: “It’s hard to say. If you’re hitting and playing good baseball, you have a really good chance to make it to the big leagues. He’s done a great job for us. I don’t know. It’s hard to say. If he doesn’t start with the team now, I guess he’s close.”

Torres responded to Gary’s words through his translator: “I feel proud that someone like Gary would say something like that about me. I take it as an inspiration to keep working hard and doing things correctly.”

The plans remain for Torres to open the season in double-A with Trenton, but it appears the ball may now reside in Gleyber’s court. Pregame/postgame analyst for YES, Jack Curry, weighed in on Torres on Twitter supporting Gleyber’s unique path to the bigs:

It still appears the Yankees are holding firm on wanting Torres to experience both double and triple-A ball for a full season, but if Torres performs at the level he has thus far, he may force his way to the Bronx in 2017.

 

Follow me on Twitter, @JaredSaul