Yankees state of the system: Second Base

Ronald Torreyes or Tyler Wade? Gleyber Torres or make a trade? There are many questions surrounding the Yankees second base job. Fortunately, the minor league system is overflowing with answers.

Gleyber Torres might open the season in Triple-A — he might not. But it’s consensus that he’ll soon have the Yankees, big league, second base job one way or the other.

We all know what Gleyber can do. Baseball’s No. 6 prospect was batting .309/.406/.457 in Scranton before the season-ending injury. He’s got power. He’s got speed. He recognizes pitches shockingly well for a 21-year-old.

He’s a terrific fielder with quick hands and a fire hose arm at three infield spots. Realistically, he could also play shortstop or third base in the major leagues. But with Didi Gregorius entrenched at short and Miguel Andujar on the way at third base, Torres seems best suited for second base in 2018.

The Yankees can, and probably will delay his free agency by keeping him in the minors for a few weeks. Sucks, but that’s what teams do with their top prospects.

There are plenty of stopgap options available both by trade and in free agency. But the Yankees already have two players on their roster — Ronald Torreyes and Tyler Wade — who deserve legitimate playing time.

It’s hard to believe Torreyes is only 25-years-old. And it’s not just because he looks like he’s 40.

Torreyes has occupied the major league roster wire-to-wire each of the past two seasons. He was a decent utility infielder in 2016 but took a sizeable step forward in 2017.

Between the injuries of Gregorius and Starlin Castro, Torreyes was pressed into 108 games and delivered a .295 batting average. He doesn’t walk or hit for much power, but he’s a good defender at three infield spots.

Plus, he reliably puts the bat on the ball. And I don’t care what the metrics say — hitting into outs is still better than whiffing. I was advocating for the Yanks’ starting Torreyes at DH in the Postseason because they badly needed someone besides Brett Gardner to reliably make contact.