Which Gleyber Torres will show up for Yankees postseason?
Aaron Judge can’t count how many times Gleyber Torres left him in awe this season. Mostly, because the former AL MVP runner-up can’t imagine having similar success at the infielder’s age.
“Wow, I’ve never seen anything like Gleyber, especially at his age, 22, to be doing what he’s doing in the big leagues is something that’s unheard of,” Judge said Thursday at Yankee Stadium. “When I was 22, I was playing in A-ball in Charleston, South Carolina, not nearly on as big a stage and facing the best arms in the biggest situations in the world.”
After being named an All-Star and finishing third in the AL Rookie of the Year voting last season, Torres put together one of the most spectacular sophomore seasons in franchise history, hitting .278 with 38 homers and 90 RBIs, along with an .872 OPS.
Torres joined Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle as the only Yankees with multiple 20-plus homer seasons and multiple All-Star appearances before turning 23.
Torres became the second middle infielder to lead the Yankees in home runs in the past 100 years and tied the team record of eight multi-homer games in a season.
“He always did something to kind of wow you,” Judge said. “I think a lot of big moments throughout the year, Gleyber always stepped up, always had a big three-run homer, made a play on defense, did something big for us. You saw it all year.”
Almost.
Torres led the majors in on-base percentage in June, hit 13 homers in August and reached base in a career-high 22 straight games — through Sept. 4 — but struggled in the season’s final weeks.
Torres, who finished September with his lowest batting average in any month this season (.237), collected just three hits in his final 24 at-bats, and hasn’t homered since Sept. 17.
In last year’s playoffs, the second baseman batted .250 (4-for-16) and didn’t have an extra-base hit, but the Yankees have become conditioned to believe Torres’ best is always ahead.
“He’s going to be huge for us going down this stretch, especially getting a taste of the postseason last year, the wild-card game, and then the Division Series against Boston,” Judge said. “It doesn’t matter if he’s 0-for-4 or 4-for-4. He’s going to have everybody’s back and have a moment and have an impact on the game. We’re going to see something special out of him in this postseason.”