NEW YORK -- This was supposed to be the best season of Gleyber Torres' career. Still only 27, the New York Yankees' second baseman had a resurgent 2023 season, hitting 25 home runs with a much-better-than-league-average 14.6% strikeout rate. All signs pointed to a player who was reaching another level as he entered his prime and prepared to enter free agency this winter.
Instead, Torres got off to a dreadful start, one that saw him get moved down the lineup two weeks into the season. He was sitting on a .229/.310/.327 batting line on June 1 while also leading the league in errors at second base. His power had vanished -- Torres did not hit his first home run until May 2 -- and his plate disciplined dried up. Everything that made him so good in 2023 went away.
"During the [All-Star] break, I went to Tampa," Torres said Tuesday. "I have a small facility there in Tampa I own with Gio Urshela, and also we own with people we've known for a long time, and basically he knows my swing and everything like that. When I struggle, I just go there, try to fix everything. Basically, I don't rest much and just hit every day, and try to fix a couple of my swings and try to feel confidence."
Torres' season had already started to turn around a few weeks earlier, when he strung together three straight two-hit games in late June. From June 28 to Aug. 15, Torres hit .279/.340/.382 in 25 games, which is more or less his 2023 output minus power. On Aug. 16, Yankees manager Aaron Boone returned Torres to the leadoff spot. He hit .313/.386/.454 in the season's final 39 games from atop the lineup.
"I feel like when Boonie gave me the opportunity to lead off, especially when it was a struggle, I was a little surprised to be leadoff, and I think everything worked out," Torres said Tuesday. "The swing feels good. I do a lot of adjustments, a lot of work to do before the game, and when I go to home plate, I didn't think too much, just trust in myself and try to do the job."
That late-season surge has carried over into the postseason. Torres has reached base to start five of New York's six October games and he's hitting .292/.433/.500 with two doubles, a homer, and more walks (six) than strikeouts (four) overall. He went 3 for 5 with a double and scored two runs in New York's win over the Cleveland Guardians in Game 2 of the ALCS on Tuesday.
"He's been excellent. It was a tough first half, without question, for him," Boone said about Torres after Game 2. "But he started to find his way in the second half, in the final two months of the season and now into the playoffs. He's just been a complete catalyst for us. Good at-bat after good at-bat. Really consistently day in and day out now for going on a few months."
Torres has made it no secret he wants to remain with the Yankees long-term. He's said so for years. The Yankees do not give out extensions very often though, and as far as we know, they have not discussed one with Torres. Re-signing Juan Soto will be the priority this offseason, rightfully. And don't forget, owner Hal Steinbrenner said the team's current payroll is "simply not sustainable" in May.
With Soto the priority and a payroll reduction possibly coming in 2025, Torres could be the odd man out this offseason. The Yankees could dig up a cheaper second baseman -- they love Triple-A prospect Caleb Durbin -- and spend their available dollars elsewhere. To be frank, Torres did not make the decision to let him leave as a free agent all that difficult for much of the season.
"I don't want to say I struggled because I think too much about free agency," Torres said Tuesday. "It's just like, I try to do the right thing and nothing happened at the moment. For sure sometimes I think if I don't do right, maybe I'm not going to sign here, I go to some other place. But I don't feel any pressure at the moment ... Thank God I (did better) in the second half, close to the playoffs, and I do a little bit better. The right thing is just like in this week and now and just do my best for everybody."
Free agency is a topic for another time. Torres had a poor start to 2024 before an All-Star break crash course with Urshela, his friend and former teammate, got him back on track. This is the epitome of a "it's not how you start, it's how you finish" season. Torres has been a force in the leadoff spot for two months now, and he's helped the Yankees get to within two wins of a pennant.
"Gleyber's been instrumental. And really it is what Gleyber has been doing the past couple months," Boone said Tuesday. "... He's definitely been a tone-setter for us, not just in this postseason, but really going back now a couple months."