On Friday night, Gleyber Torres became the youngest player in American League history to homer in four straight games. Torres, who made his debut on April 22, has hit nine home runs in his last 16 games, and all nine have come with him batting ninth.
This is the same player who hit seven home runs in 202 at-bats between Double and Triple-A in 2017. So what is the explanation for the sudden power surge?
“I don’t know,” Aaron Boone said. “He’s got a really mature approach, and sometimes you see that with young players that are really good players. Sometimes they get to the big leagues and it’s like, the better the competition, the more skilled the pitchers they’re facing, sometimes the better they are.
Power comes at different times in people’s career, and it started to happen, obviously, for Gleyber now.”
The 21-year-old Torres is the fourth youngest player in the Modern Era to homer in four straight games, older than only Miguel Cabrera, Andruw Jones and Albert Pujols. Gary Sanchez is the only other rookie in Yankees history to accomplish the feat.
“I think the mechanics of his swing and why he is such a big prospect, do project that he will hit for power,” Boone said. “Whether it’s the rate he’s going, I’m not sure about that, but just the mechanics of his swing allow him to impact the ball.”
While Torres has been historic with this home run pace, Boone did recognize back in March that there was a power stroke. “You understood why he was so highly thought of with the way his swing works, and the way I guess the bio kinetics of his swing suggest he’s gonna be a really good hitter,” Boone said.
“And you saw that in spring training. I think for Gleyber, it was just about just getting some reps, from missing, at 20 years of age, half a season, and missing a lot of time.”
In the field, Torres has only played at second base, after playing second, third and short in the minors. With all the transactions the team has made, the question was raised of if moving Torres around could interfere with his bat.
“I think we’re at a point where we’re not really worried about that with him,” Boone said.
They certainly aren’t worried about his bat.