Yankees: Gleyber Torres and Miguel Andujar heading in opposite directions

Gleyber Torres and Miguel Andujar are the leading candidates for AL Rookie of the Year but right now their seasons are going in opposite directions. Torres has hit a wall and is in a massive slump right now while Andujar is on fire and has been the Yankees most consistent hitter in the second half.

Coming into the season the Yankees had high hopes for both players but I don’t think anyone expected them to play as well as they have. That’s part of the reason they acquired Brandon Drury and Neil Walker during spring training because they didn’t want to go into the season starting two rookies in their infield. Now both players have the starting jobs on lockdown and figure to have them for the next 10-15 seasons.

However, at a time where the Yankees need their offense to step up in the absence of Aaron Judge and Gary Sanchez, Andujar has and Torres hasn’t. Andujar has looked like a seasoned vet over the past couple weeks while Torres has looked like he’s fading in what has otherwise been an outstanding rookie season. He’s also fading behind Andujar in the race for Rookie of the Year.

The 21-year old phenom was arguably the team MVP in the first half of the season, but since his return from a strained hip back on July 25th, he hasn’t looked like the same player. The quality of his at-bats haven’t been the same and as a result, his average has taken a huge dip from .290 to .258 entering play Wednesday.

It’s unclear whether lingering effects from the injury are to blame, but something’s not right and it’s not just affecting him at the plate. Too many times over the past couple weeks we’ve seen errors from Torres that are more mental than physical. He’s making the kind of mistakes you usually see from a rookie, but they’re happening way too often to give him the benefit of the doubt.

On the other side of the infield, Andujar has also struggled a bit defensively of late but with the bat, he’s been on a roll. In the second half, he leads the Yankees with a .357 average and he continues to be an extra-base hitting machine. Wednesday night he added his rookie and team-leading 57th extra base hit with his 19th home run of the season and 34th double in the Yankees 6-1 loss to the Rays. The home run was his fifth in his last nine games.

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Andujar has been clutch for the Yankees all season but especially over the last couple weeks. It seems like every time they need a big hit to give them a lead or cut into a deficit he delivers more than anyone else in the lineup.

Torres himself has been clutch for much of the season, but not in the second half. He looked overwhelmed at the plate in the team’s huge series in Boston when the Yankees were swept. And since being moved up from the nine-hole in the batting order after the Judge injury he hasn’t provided much production at all.

Despite Torres’ struggles of late we have to remember that he is a rookie and it’s not unusual to see rookies hit a wall like the one he’s going through right now. By no means should anybody think his first half was a fluke. He put up those numbers because he’s a great player and he still has the potential to be one of the best players in baseball for years to come.

Let’s not forget that Andujar is two years older than Torres and he’s been playing pro baseball since 2012. He’s more developed than Torres is and has experienced struggles throughout his young career so he’s better equipped to deal with them.

Torres has been highly touted ever since the Cubs signed him as a teenager and it took him 223 games less than it took Andujar to make it to the major leagues. He’s so talented that he’s never really gone through a major slump or experienced failure. That’s something that’s not easy to get yourself out of especially when you’re playing at the major league level for the New York Yankees.

Things might look bad for Torres right now and Aaron Boone was smart to give him Wednesday night off to refresh his body and his mind on the bench. Hopefully, that helps him because there’s no doubt in my mind he will snap out of this soon and play like the All-Star he was in the first half as the team continues to make their playoff push.

Once he gets going again and Judge and Sanchez can return this Yankee lineup will be a force to be reckoned with like it was earlier in the season. With and Andujar and Torres holding things down at the bottom third of the order the lineup will be deeper than any in baseball and one nobody will want to pitch to come October.