In the fourth inning of Sunday’s loss in Cleveland, Gleyber Torres was on the right side of second base in a shift, but broke to the bag as what became an Eddie Rosario RBI single went between Torres and the shifted Rougned Odor into the outfield.
The next batter, Franmil Reyes, hit a three-run home run to put the Indians ahead, and magnified what was already looked at as the latest defensive miscue in a season full of them for Gleyber – but when asked about it on Monday, Yankees bench coach and infield instructor Carlos Mendoza gave Torres a little bit of the benefit of the doubt.
“It’s kind of a hard read, especially when you’re shifting with runners on first and second and Odor in the hole, and the ball was in no man’s land a little,” Mendoza said. “Gleyber was holding the runner at second trying to keep him close, and his first reaction was toward the base. It’s a read where it goes back to playing the game within the game and knowing the situation, but those are the teaching moments. He has to play that game within the game.”
Mendoza describes that “game within a game” as the little things involved in any situation: knowing how many runners are on and who they are, the speed of baserunners or batter, and anticipating plays. That is still a work in progress with Torres, but Mendy is seeing progress with Gleyber.
“The more you are out there in those situations, the more you know, like, in that situation, anything to your left you have to go to first and get one out,” Mendoza said. “That’s the next step, and those are the daily conversations with him besides the preparation and fundamentals. It’s part of development, and we have to make those adjustments.”
Mendoza believes Torres has gotten better defensively as the year has gone on, and as he has settled in and become steadier in the routine plays, and the Yankees think they’ve identified some possible root causes for the early struggles.
“We want him to continue to prepare, go out and play his game, and have fun and show his ability. When he goes back to trusting the work and having an aggressive mindset, he’ll be fine,” Mendoza said. “He had momentum coming out of spring training, and maybe once the season started, he tried to do too much and be too perfect, and didn’t trust the work.”
That work never stops, though, even for the coaches.
“That starts now, before the game, with the conversations we have once we get the other team’s lineup: going over their batters and who may be plus runners, who may steal in certain situations, how the infield plays in different parks, things like that,” Mendoza said. “Once the game starts, the game will dictate things; I keep telling him to play to the scoreboard and the situation, and be locked in on every pitch, because as a shortstop, you’re involved in every pitch.”
That’s true of anyone up the middle, Mendoza says, so it’s not a “drop off” per se going from second base to shortstop, even if responsibilities may change.
“You have to know how to make the plays when the balls come to you, but you also have to cover bases, go out for relays, et cetera,” Mendoza said. “The mind has to be in it on every pitch, and that takes a lot.
That’s the next step for Gleyber.”
A step the team believes he can keep making.
“He’s our shortstop, and we continue to believe in him,” Mendoza said. “There’s development and a lot of learning experience, and we have to continue to help him be prepared and stay positive. He’s very talented, and we’re confident he’ll continue to make progress.”
And, for anyone worried that maybe Gleyber’s offensive struggles may be carrying over, well, it’s widely known how Torres mashes at Camden Yards – and manager Aaron Boone believes the shortstop is already showing signs of snapping out of his slump as it is.
“Hopefully he can find some comfort here, but we can look back at the Cleveland series where his at-bats started to improve,” Boone said.
“He started hitting the ball with more authority, so I feel like that’s starting to happen more for him. He’s not fouling off as many of the pitches he should do some damage with, and getting some tighter, more quality contact.”
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