Fresh off another abysmal evening, Gleyber Torres was asked to evaluate his first half of the season following the Yankees’ 9-7 loss to the Mets on Tuesday.
“You tell me,” the second baseman replied. “I think it’s bad. I have to figure out how to get better. Working really hard.”
Asked what was most disappointing, Torres said, “Everything.”
He’s right, and his performance at Citi Field demonstrated why.
Torres, in a platform year, woke up with a .215 average, a .627 OPS, a 78 OPS+, seven home runs and 29 RBI after going 0-for-4 with one walk and two swinging strikeouts as the cleanup hitter on Tuesday. The first K came with the bases loaded and nobody out in the first inning when David Peterson threw a fastball well above the zone. The second punchout came in the third when the Mets’ southpaw ended a nine-pitch at-bat with a changeup over the heart of the plate.
“We need him to be a presence in the middle of our lineup,” Aaron Boone said, noting that the Yankees just lost Giancarlo Stanton and are in the midst of a stretch that pits them against multiple lefties. “We have to get that out of him.”
However, Torres’ unproductive bat is not his only problem, as he alluded to.
In the sixth inning, the 27-year-old made his 12th error of the season.
With the Yankees playing in, Torres did not stay in front of a groundball. It went under his glove, allowing a run to score. The Mets added two more runs after that, giving them a 9-1 lead at the time.
“That’s a play he should make tonight,” Boone said. “In and around the last two weeks after the [dropped] popup [against the Dodgers], it’s been a lot of really good defense that no one ever asks about. But it’s a play he’s gotta make. It’s as simple as that. He didn’t make it tonight. It happens. But we have to get him going.”
Added Torres: “I just missed.”
Boone has made it a point to say that no one highlights Torres’ good plays when he makes a mistake, but he leads all second basemen in errors. Various fielding metrics, including Outs Above Average and Defensive Runs Saved, don’t hold him in high regard.
Torres’ poor night did not stop with the error.
Shortly after that, the Yankees began to claw their way back into the game. Aaron Judge played a large part in that, clubbing an eighth-inning grand slam to make it a 9-7 affair.
In the next at-bat, Torres hit a soft grounder to Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor. Because of the light contact, Torres could have made things close at first base. However, he didn’t hustle out of the batter’s box, giving Lindor plenty of time to throw him out.
The optics weren’t pretty, but Torres said that his groin felt “a little bit tight” on the play. He exited the Yankees’ loss to the Orioles on June 20 due to right groin tightness and missed the next game, but the team said the injury wasn’t serious.
Torres said he’s been getting treatment and hoped to be in Wednesday’s lineup.
“He and I have talked about that, and he has been dealing with a little bit of a groin that he came out for last week,” Boone said of Torres’ failure to run. “So there’s certain spots where he’s being a little bit careful with it. But he’s obviously really important to what we’re doing and especially right now, needing some meat in the middle of that lineup, we gotta get him going.”
Boone wouldn’t provide a straight answer when asked if he had thought about benching Torres, whether it be for performance, a lack of hustle or because he needs a mental break. The manager simply said that the Yankees need Torres to produce.
Boone didn’t commit to having Torres in his Wednesday order, but the groin injury could play a factor in that.
“We’ll see,” Boone said.
As much as the Yankees need Torres to be his former All-Star self, so does he.
An impending free agent, Torres is costing himself money with every passing day. Meanwhile, any minuscule chance he had of remaining a Yankee beyond this season now feels even smaller.
He’s repeatedly said that he wants to stay in pinstripes, but now he’s facing questions over whether he should even stay in the lineup.
“It’s not easy,” Torres said of his mentality. “I know that I can do a better job right now. I just gotta. I don’t do the adjustments. It is what it is. No excuses.
“When I have the opportunity to play, I just try to do the right things.”