You envision Gleyber Torres chatting with Aaron Boone about the Subway Series the way Will Ferrell did with Adam Scott, in “Step Brothers,” about the Catalina Wine Mixer:
Torres: I’m ready. Walkin’ tall.
Boone: You’re ready to run with the bulls?
Torres: I’ve been earnin’ and burnin’. Snappin’ necks and cashin’ checks.
Maybe not word for word? Nevertheless, this 22nd version of the modern Subway Series, set to launch Friday night at Citi Field, represents another mountain, the next big stage, for the Yankees’ dynamic, 21-year-old rookie to climb. With his fellow freshman Miguel Andujar serving as one heck of a wing man.
On the Mets’ side, um … welcome to the intracity rivalry, Luis Guillorme?
That the Yankees bring the most compelling new folks to baseball’s most important interleague rivalry — oh, by the way, it’ll also be Giancarlo Stanton’s maiden voyage — reflect an ugly truth for the Mets and their fans and an unfortunate reality for advocates of competitive balance:
The Yankees look poised to dominate this platform for quite a while.
Baseball’s second-best team might employ the industry’s best, deepest 26-and-under corps with Aaron Judge, Gary Sanchez, Greg Bird and Luis Severino leading Torres and Andujar, and more potential reinforcements such as Clint Frazier, Esteven Florial and Justus Sheffield in the pipeline.
For all the agita the Mets have presented to their fans over the past eight weeks, they have offered a smidgen of hope in the form of Brandon Nimmo, who made his Subway Series debut in 2016, and the prodigal starting rotation of Jacob deGrom, Steven Matz, Noah Syndergaard and Zack Wheeler (was there a fifth guy? The Post can’t remember) actually has performed well amidst the wreckage on offense. Yet when you factor in the relative ages, service times and medical histories, the Yankees get the edge by a large margin. They’re favored to extend their all-time series edge of 66-46.
Torres carries a ridiculous .294/.353/.551 slash line in 39 big-league games into his initial visit to Citi, and that has been constructed on an impressive blend of consistency — he has failed to reach base in only five of his 38 starts — and drama, as he has a pair of walk-off hits and is slashing .364/.440/.682 in 26 plate appearances that Baseball-Reference.com deems “late and close.”
“He’s worked really hard to be here,” Boone said of Torres on May 25, after the rookie’s seventh-inning homer gave the Yankees a 2-1 victory over the Angels. “I’ve had that conversation with him where he says, ‘I’ve been preparing for this my whole life,’ and certainly the last several years come up in the minor leagues, and I think he just plays the game with a lot of confidence. But I think his intelligence is very evident. When you combine his intelligence with instincts and talent, you have someone who’s been a very special player for us.”
Now the Mets get to see this guy who has caused so much fuss. Manager Mickey Callaway, whose Indians lost to Aroldis Chapman and the Cubs in the 2016 World Series, puts his eyes on the prize that Theo Epstein surrendered in order to rent Chapman for a few months. Todd Frazier, who probably would’ve been Yankees teammates with Torres last year if not for Torres’ season-ending injury, now gets to see the rookie in the flesh, as an opponent.
And if the Mets’ power arms can neutralize Torres? Well, Andujar, at .306/.337/.544 in 50 games, is no automatic out himself. Would it surprise you if he emerged as the weekend’s top newcomer?
Until the Mets can start keeping pace with the Yankees’ steady flow of tall-walkin’, neck-snappin’, check-cashin’ youngsters, this important baseball rivalry won’t be as dynamic as it can and should be. But hey, at least one side is delivering fresh blood and making this worth watching, still.