And the Rookie of the Year award goes to Miguel…wait, what’s that? Another rookie is heating back up? That’s right. After a three week DL stint slowed the then torrid Gleyber Torres, the young rookie is finally heating back up.
When Torres returned from the disabled list with a strained hip, his bat was slow to heat up. The rookie saw his average slip from .294 at the time of injury on July 4th all the way down to .258 as late as August 16th. But since then, Torres has been nothing but fire. He’s single-handedly won several of the Yankees past few games. Over the last two weeks, he has slashed an insane .391/.481/.652. His OPS over that span is 1.134 while hitting four home runs and swiping two bags. In the last seven days, his OPS is an otherworldly 1.304, including hitting what proved to be the game-winning blast in this game:
While filling in for Didi Gregorius, Torres has done a decent job on defense. He’s made some solid plays, shows off a good arm, but also had five errors there in the 17 games he’s played. For perspective, he’s had 11 total errors at second base across 86 games. It’s not easy switching positions, but he’s performed well enough to leave no questions about taking his bat out of the lineup.
With Judge’s uncertain future this season, a hot Torres can significantly help the Yankees push deep into the postseason. This becomes especially true when you realize that Judge and Torres have been the Yankees best hitters with RISP. Torres is hitting a robust .299/.379/.598 with eight home runs across 104 plate appearances with RISP.
Here’s hoping he can keep it up into October.
