Yankees hope they ‘dodged a bullet’ with Gleyber Torres ankle
Gleyber Torres has had a resurgence. After two years of struggles, the second baseman has returned to the position where he seems more comfortable and has rediscovered a swing that works for him. So watching him leave Sunday’s game with a turned ankle was obviously concerning.
Aaron Boone was optimistic after the game. The Yankees manager said he thought they “dodged a bullet with the ankle. Monday afternoon, however, Boone revealed that Torres has been dealing with a sore right wrist for a couple weeks and they decided now would be a good time for him to get a cortisone shot. He will most likely be out Monday and Tuesday.
“Gleyber’s ankle is doing well,” Boone said before Monday night’s series opener against the A’s at the Stadium. “He rolled a little bit, but not such a big deal but he did have an MRI on his wrist that’s kind of just been bugging him a little bit lately. Came back structurally good. Had a little inflammation in there so he actually got a cortisone shot today so that’ll knock him out for today and tomorrow swinging the bat wise anyway, but he’s fine.”
The Yankees, who have had an extra infielder all season, are well prepared for these things. DJ LeMahieu, who was playing second base Monday, is a natural second baseman and obviously doesn’t change the lineup much. He has been playing a lot of third base to rest the 36-year old Josh Donaldson. Monday night was his 19th start at second. He also had eight starts at first base. Matt Carpenter has extensive experience at third base to help keep the Donaldson rotation — which is two games in the field and then a day as a designated hitter — and Marwin Gonzalez can also play third or second base.
It’s hard to imagine if you just watched the last two years, but Torres missing games is a hit to the Yankees’ offense. After two years of struggles at the plate, what the Yankees would miss is Torres’ bat. He’s hitting .250/.302/.487 with 13 homers and 32 RBI.
So the wrist, which he had wrapped a couple of weeks ago and has been icing after games, has not really bothered him that much.
“It’s been the last couple of weeks. I think he had it taped up a couple of weeks ago so it just been kind of lingering, nothing that’s kept them out of lineup obviously,” Boone said. “But I think with him rolling in the ankle last night is like alright, let’s get an image and see if we can knock this out and don’t expect to be anything that lingers too much.”
Torres was embarrassed by his last two seasons. He showed up at the Yankees’ player development complex about two weeks after they lost in the American League Wild Card Game and asked then minor league hitting coordinator Dillon Lawson to help him rediscover the swing that made him a Rookie of the Year candidate in 2018. The two worked together for just over a month before the lockout. He spent almost every weekday working out at a high school field in Tampa. The result is a drastic contrast to the last two years.
In 2020, the Yankees — and to be fair other teams’ talent evaluators — felt that Torres was just hindered by the fact he showed up after the COVID-19 spring training shutdown out of shape and that resulted in a leg injury.
Last season, however, in 127 games, Torres had just nine homers and 51 RBI. He slashed .259/.331/.366 with a .697 OPS. He also had a career-high 14 stolen bases.
It was after a stolen base that Torres got hurt Sunday. With one out and the game tied at 3-3 in the ninth inning, Torres stole second base, and catcher Martin Maldonado’s throw went into center field. Torres moved to third on the error.
“He caught a spike and kind of rolled it there at third,” Boone said.
