Gleyber Torres Continues To Hit Bombs, Carrying The Yankees To a Win Over The Rays
Every. Single. Night. Every single night Gleyber Torres amazes us. Remember, he wasn’t supposed to be a power guy. His projection was a very good singles and doubles hitter with smooth defensive skills. Well, since he’s been called up he has the second most homers in the league, with 13, behind only Boston’s J.D. Martinez, who has 16 in that span. Last night the Yankees offense was frustrating, to say the least. For 4+ innings they left an ARMY of men stranded on base. Blake Snell grinded hard to avoid the big blast. The Rays built a 2-0 lead off Domingo German and for a little while that appeared to be enough for the W. After an Aaron Hicks solo shot put the Yanks on the board, Gleyber came up with two men on and two out in the 5th. He worked the count full and then ripped a 96 mph fastball over the heart of the plate for what would be the game-winning home run.
When Gleyber gets a hold of one, they are BOMBS. For a Yankee that is 21 years or younger he has the fourth most homers ever in a single season behind names like Mantle and DiMaggio. Not bad considering it’s June 15th. Eight of his thirteen home runs this season have either tied or given the Yankees the lead. He is the definition of special and he’s all ours for the next 20 years. I’m in love. If you wanted him traded for Jacob deGrom you can go kick rocks.
On the mound, Domingo German had himself a night. Yes, his first inning was a bit of a roller coaster when gave up a leadoff homer on the very first pitch of the game, but German went on to strike out the side and settle down. For the game he struck out a career high 10 men, generating a ridiculous 26 swings and misses. Out of every pitcher that has thrown a baseball this year, that was the 4th most swings and misses all year behind only James Paxton, Scherzer, and deGrom.
German has excellent stuff, it’s just a matter of whether he can control it or not. That’s not to say he walks a ton of guys, but in terms of not leaving his fastball over the middle of the plate and instead being able to hit his posts, avoiding the big blow. You can see the potential in this guy every start he makes and I’m excited to see him get better and better. We’re going to need him badly over the next month with Tanaka and Montgomery sidelined.
The bullpen was once again lockdown with the combination of Chad Green-Dellin Betances-Aroldis Chapman doing the job. That seems to be Boone’s go-to 7th-8th-9th combination if everyone is fully rested and I don’t have one issue with it. It’s difficult to find three relievers right now pitching better together than that bunch.
Tonight, Johnny Lasagna (Jonathan Loaisiga) makes his MLB debut in hopes of being the 5th guy in this rotation for the time being. The 23 year old Loaisiga is the Yankees #12 prospect (according to MLB Pipeline) and carries with him a live fastball that can top out at 98 mph. Along with that he has a curveball in the low 80s that generates a ton of spin as well as a decent changeup. Control is his pedigree and is partly why Boone loves the kid because he doesn’t walk many. He’ll likely be on a shortened pitch count since he hasn’t thrown more than 78 pitches in a game since May 3rd so expect the bullpen to have a big part in this one.
Make sure to listen to a brand new episode of The Short Porch where Tommy and I rip everyone who wanted to trade Gleyber for deGrom as well as much much more.