The New York Yankees are fighting for first place in the AL East, and poor effort or mental gaffes won't be tolerated in their chase for a division title. That was at least the case for Gleyber Torres last night.
In the second inning of yesterday's 8-5 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays, the Yankees second baseman believed he had a hit a home run to left field, and because of that belief, he wasn't in much of a hurry to move around the basepaths.
The only problem with that is that the ball fell short of clearing the wall and instead bounced off of the left-field wall. Torres had to stop at first base, earning a long and hard-hit single.
Shortly after, Torres was tagged out at home for the final out of the inning. Yankees manager Aaron Boone then benched Torres.
“I just felt like I needed to in that spot,” Boone said. “I’m not going to get too far down the rabbit hole of making judgments on this one. I just felt like, in that moment, I needed to do that. Simple as that. It is what it is. It’s over with, and we’ve got to move on. He and I have spoken, and hopefully, this is a great learning moment for all of us.”
Gleyber Torres apologizes after being benched by Yankees
Like Aaron Boone indicated, Gleyber Torres will have to learn from this moment or likely risk more benchings.
To his credit, Torres apologized for his second-inning mistake after the game and said that Boone did the “right thing.”
“I feel really sorry for whatever I [did] tonight, especially for the fans and also for my teammates,” Torres said. “I’m a human being; I made an error. I feel like whatever I [did] tonight, I’m going to learn a lot; I just want to compete with my teammates; I want to play great.”
“I thought it was a homer. Unfortunately, it’s just a single,” he said.
Playing in his seventh MLB season with the Yankees, Torres is having the worst year of his career in 2024. He currently has a career-low batting average, slugging percentage, on-base percentage and OPS.
Torres' future with the Yankees certainly seems precarious, especially following the team's acquisition of Jazz Chisholm from the Miami Marlins. Chisholm, although more commonly a center fielder recently, played quite a bit of second base, Torres' position, during his first three years with the Marlins.
Having another option at second base would be preferable for the Yankees, who are tied atop the AL East with the Baltimore Orioles at 65-46.
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