If Gleyber Torres was hoping for a bounceback season to prove that his true potential is closer to his 2018-19 production than his underwhelming 2020-21 numbers, he is not off to a good start.
In 10 games to start the 2022 campaign, the former hyped prospect and two-time All-Star has just five hits in 31 at-bats, good for a .161 batting average and .229 OBP.
Torres was shifted to second base late last season in the hopes that the burden of shortstop being lifted would help him at the plate, but so far, that hasn’t been the case. Instead, there is only more growing concern that Torres’ first two years in the big leagues were more of a tease than a sign of what was to come.
“Gleyber Torres is an enigma without a doubt at this point,” David Cone said on his Toeing the Slab podcast. “Who is Gleyber Torres? What’s gonna happen with him?”
Cone admitted that the steep decline of Torres is concerning, as he has his just 12 home runs since the start of the 2020 season after hitting 38 in 2019, a potential casualty of the changed baseballs after 2019’s juiced ball craze.
“It’s concerning at this point,” Cone said. “It makes you wonder everything about the construction of the baseballs. How big a deal was that a couple years ago, when he was wearing out the Baltimore Orioles?”
Torres used to use the O’s as his personal punching bag, but couldn’t generate any offense this past weekend in Baltimore. He was benched in Tuesday’s series opener against the Tigers, and while Torres could continue to see his playing time slip away if he doesn’t turn things around, Cone isn’t ready to give up on the 25-year-old.
“I gotta see a little bit more with Gleyber,” Cone said. “I’m not ready to say Gleyber has fallen off a cliff, even though the numbers suggest it. I want to see more.”
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