The scrutiny on Gleyber Torres is growing.
His ugly season has gotten more attention as the Yankees have hit a rough patch in recent weeks, and on Tuesday it reached the YES Network booth after he did not bust out of the box on a soft grounder in the eighth inning of the team’s loss to the Mets.
Torres, who is dealing with groin tightness, came to the plate right after Aaron Judge’s grand slam cut the Yankees’ deficit to 9-7, and the second baseman’s groundout ended the inning.
“I mean, you can’t do that,” Michael Kay said as YES showed a replay of Torres leisurely jogging to first.
“This game will beat you down to the point where — you’re right Michael. You can’t, you shouldn’t, but the game just wears you out,” Paul O’Neill replied.
David Cone said Torres, 27, is “wearing it right now emotionally” and that he might need a break.
“We’ve seen managers that we’ve played for, it’d be like Joe Torre saying, ‘Hey, you come sit with me for a couple days,'” Cone said.
Torres, who batted cleanup, finished the night 0-for-4 to drop his batting average to .215 as the Yankees lost for the seventh time in nine games.
Manager Aaron Boone had a chat with Torres following the game.
In the final year of his contract, Torres has just a .628 OPS with seven home runs and 29 RBIs through 80 games.
Last season, Torres had a slash line of .273/.347/.453 with 25 home runs and 68 RBIs.
He burst onto the scene with the Yankees in 2018 after he came over in the 2016 trade that sent Aroldis Chapman to the Cubs, finishing third in the AL Rookie of the Year voting with 24 home runs and an .820 OPS.
In 2019, Torres hit 38 home runs with an .871 OPS, but that has turned out to be the peak of his career thus far.
“I think it’s bad,” Torres said Tuesday of the first half of his season. “Have to figure out [how] to get better. I’m working really hard.”
