Thought to be dead by fans, the Yankees veteran turned to his former teammate for help to turn the season around

Through the first half of the 2024 season, Gleyber Torres looked like a waste of a spot on the New York Yankees' roster.

Despite having one of his best offensive campaigns (118 OPS+) in 2023, the Yankees second baseman looked like a fraction of that hitter, posting an 86 OPS+ 35 thanks to a .231/.307/.347 line and eight home runs RBIs in 93 games. With free agency looming in the offseason and the Yankees unlikely to keep him, what did manager Aaron Boone have to lose by sitting out Torres, who too often has also frustrated fans with an inconsistent glove and baserun errors?

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Restore the glory

But then came the All-Star break, July 15-18, and thanks to extra work with his personal hitting coach and former teammate Gio Urshela, then a member of the Detroit Tigers, at their Tampa facility, something clicked.

“This season is (long) and really stressful at times,” Torres told reporters, via the New York Post, before Game 3 of the AL Championship Series with the Cleveland Guardians. “Just go to my city of Tampa, visit my friend and just do different training sessions to get a little better as a player. You just forget a few things about baseball and just enjoy and try to feel the same feeling you felt before. Then when you start playing again, just try to do the right thing.

“Something happened in the second half the way I thought it would and I’m just really enjoying it.”

According to Urshela, Torres' 2019-21 Yankees teammate, his friend didn't drive the ball far enough the other way, instead rolling weak ground balls to shortstop and third base.

The result of Torres' work and mental refresh was a drastically improved batsman. In the second half of the season, Torres hit .293/.361/.419 with seven home runs and 28 RBIs in 61 games, a performance that helped solidify his role as the Yankees' leadoff hitter. During the playoffs, Torres had seven hits in 24 at-bats with one home run, three RBIs and six walks.

As a leadoff hitter, Torres has a .283/.350/.405 line (105 OPS+), numbers that are skewed since he started at that position early in the season when he struggled.

Aside from salvaging a seemingly lost season and being a driving force in the Yankees' playoff push, the 27-year-old Torres has undoubtedly revitalized his free agency stock and future earnings.