Yankees: Countdown is on for Gleyber Torres’ arrival

It is only a matter of time before the Yankees call up their top prospect, infielder Gleyber Torres.

Torres’ arrival could come as early as this week — Thursday to be exact with the team having an off day on Wednesday. All this following the ruling to push his free agency period back one-year due to the Yankees No. 1 prospect having no major league experience.

When asked this week, exactly when we would get our first glimpse of Torres in pinstripes, manager Aaron Boone attempted to answer without either getting hopes up or diminishing them.

“I’d say anything’s possible,” he said. “We have conversations about that kind of thing. Possible? Yes. Likely? Not necessarily.”

Torres has been on a tear with the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders, recently being recognized as the International League Player of the Week. His early season numbers have been staggering:

Now, of course, Torres’ statistics do not mean that type of success will carry over to the MLB level, where the expectations for the Yankees are higher than that of the skyscrapers that outline the city landscape.

Which leads to Boone and the front office being careful about calling Torres up too soon, and potentially impacting the mental side of things that come with baseball.

As pointed out by Yanks Go Yard editor, Mike Calendrillo, there is a considerable difference between the pitching he sees at Triple-A, to that of the best arms in the world at the major league level.

The move, though, will come as a low risk, high reward for the Yanks. With the lineup struggling to put things together and injuries plaguing the team early, Torres could be the spark the team needs.

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There is no set timetable for Greg Bird or Brandon Drury’s return, and the club needs help and stability in the infield. Torres has gotten playing time at both second and third base for the RailRiders. That’s not by mistake as the Yankees are high on his promise and looking to get him as much time on the field as they can while keeping guys like Neil Walker and Didi Gregorius healthy.

If Torres continues to see and therefore hit the ball well, that could give guys like Giancarlo Stanton, Gary Sanchez and Brett Gardner a push in the right direction to play better as a rookie is showing them up.

Now if Torres struggles, it’s safe to say the fans would rather that happen now while the team is playing .500 ball (literally), in the early portion of the season and see the adjustments come with everyone else’s overall improvement.

An impactful Torres would give the Yankees the deepest (when healthy) and most talented lineup in baseball. Sorry, Houston.

Next: Betances is at the end of his rope

The countdown is on. It’s only a matter of when, not if the Yankees call up the best player in their system. In fact, it might serve the team better to do it sooner rather than later.