Gleyber Torres Emerges as the Key Player for the Yankees

NEW YORK — For as essential as Aaron Judge and Juan Soto were to driving the Yankees offense this season, the team spent much of the first half waiting for its other hitters to provide complementary production. Circa the July 30 trade deadline, the only other Yankees with a wRC+ in the vicinity of league average were Giancarlo Stanton, who had missed five weeks in June and July due to injury; the catching tandem of Austin Wells and Jose Trevino, only one of whom was in the lineup on a given day; and fill-in first baseman Ben Rice, whose initial success proved fleeting. With the deadline addition of Jazz Chisholm Jr. and a late rebound by Gleyber Torres, the big bashers finally got more support, particularly after the latter returned to the leadoff spot on August 16. So far in the postseason, Torres has been particularly pesky, hitting .292/.433/.500 through six games while scoring seven of the Yankees’ 25 runs.

In their 6-3 victory in Game 2 of the ALCS on Tuesday, Torres paced the Yankees’ 11-hit attack by going 3-for-5 with a double and two runs scored. The 27-year-old leadoff man was one of three Yankees with multiple hits, along with Anthony Rizzo (2-for-4, with a double) and Anthony Volpe (2-for-3). His table-setting was well-timed, as he came around to score after opening the home half of the first inning with a double, and was on base when Judge finally got on the board with a towering two-run homer, his first of the postseason.

Before Game 2, manager Aaron Boone said of Torres, “He’s definitely been a tone-setter for us, not just in this postseason but going back now a couple months.” For the fifth time in six postseason games, both Torres and Soto, the number two hitter in the lineup, reached safely, putting pressure on the Guardians from the outset.

Cleveland starter Tanner Bibee’s first four pitches to Torres were all outside the strike zone, though the third went for a called strike. With the count in his favor 3-1, Torres drilled a belt-high inside four-seamer into the left field corner; at 108.2 mph, it was his hardest hit ball of the postseason by nearly eight full ticks. Soto followed with a sharp single to right field, with Torres stopping at third, and then Judge hit a sky-high popup that shortstop Brayan Rocchio, ranging past second base to the right side of the infield, somehow dropped — the opening gaffe of a game filled with them on both sides. Torres raced home easily for the Yankees’ first run.

They couldn’t add another in that inning, but the Yankees made Bibee throw 27 pitches. If they’ve underperformed when it comes to scoring runs given the game-opening one-two punch of Torres and Soto, they’ve significantly taxed opposing starters nonetheless, foreshadowing quick exits that have helped to expose the soft underbellies of the Royals and Guardians bullpens:

A good chunk of the blame for the paltry first-inning scoring is due to the combined 0-for-12 showing by Judge and Wells, the cleanup hitter; each has struck out in three of six first-inning plate appearances. Thus far in the postseason, Judge is 3-for-18 with a double, a homer, six walks and two sac flies, while Wells is just 2-for-24 with 10 strikeouts, that after closing the season in a 3-for-45 slide.

Bibee returned for the second inning and surrendered a single to Volpe, a double to Rizzo, and an RBI double to Alex Verdugo. Torres popped out to first, leaving Guardians manager Stephen Vogt with an unenviable choice: pitch to Soto with two men in scoring position and first base open, or enter the federal witness protection program intentionally walk him to face Judge, who even while slumping remains dangerous. Vogt chose the latter route, accompanied by his giving Bibee the hook after just 39 pitches. Throwing nothing but four-seamers above the belt and higher, reliever Cade Smith ran Judge to a 1-2 count before the slugger lofted a lazy 88.5-mph fly ball to center, deep enough to score Rizzo and give the Yankees a 3-0 lead.

Torres hit a two-out single off Tim Herrin in the fourth that went for naught. He came to bat again in the sixth with two outs and Rizzo on second after a double and a Will Brennan error brought home Volpe to re-extend the lead to 4-2. Torres fell behind 0-2 before Rizzo got caught wandering too far off the base after catcher Austin Hedges temporarily lost control of a pitch in the dirt; he was thrown out in a rundown, 2-4-5-4-5. Rizzo’s was actually the second Yankees TOOTBLAN of the inning, as Chisholm had been picked off after hitting a double. These are the professionals, folks.

Rizzo’s blunder did bail out Torres, who took advantage of his reset by leading off the seventh with a single off Hunter Gaddis. One out later, Judge finally got the postseason monkey off his back with his 37-degree, 414-foot shot into the netting above Monument Park in center field, giving the Yankees a 6-2 lead. Afterwards, Torres got a ribbing from Judge, as he had tagged up on the homer. “That was disrespect out of Gleyber, man. He’s seen me hit 58 of those things this year,” he said in an on-field interview.

Torres had one more turn at the plate after the Yankees put two on with two outs in the eighth. He struck out looking at a Ben Lively sinker that was actually above the zone.

While this was Torres’ second multi-hit game of the postseason, it was also just his second without a walk. “His patience has been excellent,” said Boone. “We’ve seen him many times go up there first pitch of the game and rifle a pitch for a hit. So it’s like that aggression that you want, but also the ability to have a deep at-bat because he’s not chasing, he’s not expanding. He knows what his job is in front of those big guys.”

If the Yankees offense is taking its cues from Torres as far as plate discipline, it’s working:

Torres set a full-season career low in chase rate, but he’s done an even better job of not expanding the zone in October; by comparison, Soto is suddenly a hacker, chasing 23.7% of pitches outside the zone. Both Torres and the Yankees are walking much more than in the regular season, and it has paid off, as their 4.17 runs per game makes them look like the 1927 Yankees in an American League bracket where teams are averaging just 2.97 per game.

It’s been a journey for Torres, whose overall regular season numbers were unremarkable (.257/.330/.378, 104 wRC+) and who was briefly benched twice for a lack of hustle. But he dug himself out of a deep, early slump to nose his way across the league average line. After ranking second on the team with a .347 on-base percentage …