Still just 26 years old, New York Yankees second baseman Gleyber Torres is finally looking like the superstar he was projected to be. After making consecutive All-Star games as a rookie and sophomore in 2018 and 2019, Torres hit a wall in 2020 and 2021, sinking from one of the most exciting young players in baseball to a major liability in the Yankees' lineup. In this sense, last year represented a rebound of sorts for Gleyber Torres—his stats weren't spectacular (.257/.310/.451 with 24 homers and 77 RBIs), but they were still solidly above-average. He was in a weird halfspace—good enough to have considerable trade value, but not too good to trade.

This season, though, Torres has been arguably the best second in MLB through the first 12 games. No other player has stats as uniformly excellent as Gleyber Torres, who's rocking a 1.179 OPS and drawing a league-leading 11 walks while also stealing bases at a career-best rate. Over the winter, Torres played winter ball in his native Venezuela and starred on Team Venezuela in the World Baseball Classic. The experience, clearly, has paid dividends.

“I went there to prepare a little bit earlier for the WBC,” Torres said to The Athletic, “but I was there working on breaking pitches. The league is really for mature guys and they have a ton of experience with breaking pitches and things like that. Not too many people threw me fastballs.”

To wit, Torres' time in Venezuela had benefits far beyond the diamond; he didn't just work on his game, he worked on himself, summoning the clarity to handle the pressures of being a Yankee.

“Now,” he said, “I just play the game. I don’t think too much at home plate. I just go there and I feel good because I did my routine before the game, and I know it works well. When the umpire says ‘play ball,’ I just try not to think too much.”