D-backs Top 40 Prospects in 2024: No. 14 Cristofer Torin

Torin's contact and plate discipline skills shined in 2024, providing a platform for growth

Visalia Rawhide's Cristofer Torin plays shortstop against San Jose Giants on Tuesday, April 9, 2024 for their opening home game. / Ron Holman / Visalia Times-Delta / USA TODAY NETWORK

This article is part of a series reviewing the seasons of the top 40 prospects still in the Arizona Diamondbacks system as of the end of 2024.

Cristofer Torin RHB, SS/2B, DOB 5/26/2005, 5'10", 155

Acquired: 2022 International Free Agent, signing bonus $240K

Venezuelan native Cristofer Torin signed with the Diamondbacks as a 17 year old middle infielder back in 2022. He began his professional career that year with an impressive 50 games that saw him bat .333 with an .899 OPS. That earned him a ticket stateside for the 2023 season.

He saw most of his action in 2023 in the Arizona Complex league. In 65 games he hit .320/.437/.427, for a 125 wRC+ (roughly 25% above league average). What was emerging was a player with a good hit tool and excellent plate discipline. He had 21 walks and just nine strikeouts in 121 plate appearances.

The then 18 year old earned a promotion to affiliated ball with the Class-A Visalia Rawhide to finish out the 2023 season. It proved a challenge, as he hit just .236/.314/.300, 74 wRC+ in 156 PA. Moreover, his strikeout rate jumped to 19.2% against a walk rate of 9%.

Sent back to repeat the same level for 2024, Torin showed improvement in a lot of areas. He began the year on fire, hitting .339/.494/.516 in April while drawing an impressive 18 walks against just 11 strikeouts. He knocked seven extra base hits and drove in 15 runs in 18 games.

The next three months were a classic case of a young player struggling to find consistency. Over 61 games, 296 PA from May 1 to July 31, Torin hit just .220/.341/.285. He still managed a very good 42 walks against 52 strikeouts, but the quality of contact was just not very good. There were a lot of popups, and only 12 of his 54 hits went for extra bases.

As is so often the case with young players, it's important to look for signs of improvement over the course of the season. Torin provided just that over his final 31 games, batting .297/.414/.407, including 24 walks and 8 extra base hits (including the final playoff games).

That brought Torin's final 2024 batting line up to .258/.385/.352 with a .738 OPS in 512 plate appearances. That OPS was slightly higher than the league average .731, which is very good for a 19 year old middle infielder that was two full years younger than the average hitter in the league.

The most impressive thing about his batting line was the 84 walks, or 16.4% walk rate. While pitchers in the California league don't have the best command, walking a little over 11% on average, that's still an excellent rate.

Torin is a great contact hitter, and his 5.3% swinging strike rate was the lowest in the California League. A large chunk of his strikeouts came looking. But he hit just 19 doubles, three triples, and four homers. There wasn't a lot of pop in the bat. Hence the OBP in his batting lines has always been higher than the slugging.

Of biggest concern is the Infield Fly per Fly Ball, or popup rate. Torin's IFFB rate has always been quite high at every level, as entering 2024 he had a 26% popup rate. That increased further to 29% in 2024, which was the second highest in the California League.

On the defensive side of things, Torin split his time at shortstop with fellow prospect Jansel Luis. In 617 innings at the position he made 17 errors, for a low .945 fielding percentage, but had a very good 3.94 Range Factor. His hand was much steadier at second base where he made just two errors in 286 innings for a .984 fielding percentage.

Torin didn't run as much as he had in the past, but still swiped 15 bags in 20 attempts for a75% success rate.

2025 Outlook

Torin put together a solid first full season in affiliated ball, and was much better down the stretch, showing a lot of improvement. He will likely move up to High-A Hillsboro to start the 2025 season. Barring an extreme breakout, expect him to spend all or most of the season there.

One area that Torin must improve as he matures is the quality of contact. He has somewhat of a downward swing plane that results in hitting the bottom half of the ball a lot, and without a lot of power, those result in popups.

Considering his contact ability, Torin could benefit most from a somewhat flatter swing plane. His line drive rate was a healthy 24% in 2024, but if he can flatten things out and bring that number up even further, coupled with his already excellent batting eye, he'll have a chance to move forward.

While the walk rates are impressive for such a young hitter, as he moves up to the next level the control the pitchers have is much better. Torin is going to have to improve his quality of contact or pitchers will just pound the zone against him to get him out and take away his best tool so far.

Don't bet against him being able to do that. He's still very young and shown the ability to adjust and improve. But considering he may ultimately need to move to second base full time in this shortstop-rich organization, he'll need to make that jump offensively if he's ever to have a shot at a starting major league role.

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