Andrew Velazquez played shortstop on Tuesday night, but make no mistake: Gleyber Torres is the starting shortstop for the New York Yankees – and even though he has struggled as of late, YES Network’s John Flaherty reiterated to Marc Malusis on WFAN Tuesday that Gleyber will get every opportunity to figure it out down the stretch.
“The Yankees are committed to Gleyber Torres, and he’ll get every opportunity down the stretch to figure out the swing – but to be a big league shortstop every day, you have to make that routine play,” Flash told Moose. “Andrew Velazquez is a great story, but he is what he is, a great defender who won’t give you much with the bat. But it was refreshing to see that old-school mentality, and Gleyber has to get to that point to be a reliable shortstop day in and day out.”
It’s been a tough season for Torres on both sides of the ball, his miscue turning a routine grounder into an infield hit on Sunday (and costing the Yankees runs in the process) accentuating a skillset that Malusis contends isn’t that of an MLB shortstop.
It’s one thing to make the routine plays hard, but it’s another to not make them at all, and Flaherty agreed that fundamentals are the one area Torres needs to not be lax.
“That’s been a conversation for a long time now. I always go back to the pitcher-catcher relationship – when a pitcher executed a pitch into a ground ball, as I was running down the line to first, I was already thinking about the next hitter,” Flaherty recalled. “The physical errors happen, but it’s the routine plays where it’s a letdown from a pitcher standpoint. There’s only so many times you can pick someone up, and you have to make a play at the big-league level.”
Compounding matters is that Torres, who slashed .278/.337/.535 with 38 home runs and 90 RBI in 2019, has put up just a .250/.334/.352 line with nine homers and 59 RBI in 145 game in the last two seasons. Shortstops who can field but not hit so well were plentiful in the old days, but if you can’t do either?
That’s not ideal, especially with the New York Yankees, and Flaherty reiterated that Torres needs to have a September to remember on both sides of the ball to be remembered fondly.
“It was refreshing to watch Velazquez go about his business, but as I said, the Yankees are committed to Gleyber, and it’s been a while now that he’s had problems in the field and hasn’t been swinging the bat,” Flash said. “In this town, the way you finish is what people remember, so he needs to have a solid September and early October on both sides of the ball.”
Follow WFAN's midday team on Twitter: @MandMWFAN, @MarcMalusis, @MaggieGray, and @TheHoffWFAN
Follow WFAN on Social Media
Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube | Twitch