How Gleyber Torres can help the Yankees’ offense

It’s been a rough go of it lately for the New York Yankees. Since the All-Star break, the team has only sported a .237 batting average en route to a losing record. Gleyber Torres has not been a “shining light” amidst the Yankees’ most recent skid.

While he and the offensive output are far from the only reasons the Bronx Bombers have been struggling, some improvement at the plate from Torres could go a long way towards a return to winning ways.

Over his last seven games entering play Monday, he’s hit .148, and over the last 15, he’s slashed .213/.250/.344 with two homers, six RBI, and just a pair of walks. He’s been good over the holistic course of the season, including a month of July that saw him hit .292 with three homers and 14 RBI.

With Giancarlo Stanton still out dealing with an Achilles injury, players such as Torres have a huge opportunity to step up and contribute. Torres has never been a particularly disciplined hitter, but it seems as if he’s lost all semblance of the art recently. His BB% is only in the 30th percentile, but his best month at the plate, July, saw him record eight walks.

Yankees’ Gleyber Torres never walks, but it’s been worse than ever lately

No one is expecting Gleyber to become a DJ LeMahieu-esque hitter that produces an overall superb OBP (in fact, he’s probably better suited as a high-risk/high-reward hitter), but it’s clear that he’s strung together better plate appearances in past seasons.

In 2019, Gleyber was sixth in the AL home run count and compiled a career-high 90 RBI. These results most assuredly were a product of a nuanced approach. He didn’t sell out to be a singles and on-base machine as he seemingly tried to do in 2021, but was simply focused on swinging big at pitches that could produce the best outcomes.

There is a huge difference between being willing to expand the zone and swinging haphazardly at everything. We’ve seen more of the latter from the Bomber lately.

In that 2019 season, it felt as if Gleyber Torres found a way to be smart about his “big swinging” approach. Fans should be happy to take the good with the bad that comes from this philosophy. Unlike former Yank Joey Gallo, Torres has already proven he can play well with this style, and it needs to be his approach for the remainder of the campaign.

Luckily for all those who cheer on the Pinstripes, Torres clubbed two hits in Sunday’s loss against the Cards. With any luck, the multi-hit performance will help spur the young slugger (and the rest of the club) to prosperous months of August and September, filled with sizzling home runs and a heap more runs batted in.