Inside The Pinstripes

Ex-Yankees Slugger Listed Among Riskiest MLB Free Agents

New York Yankees fans will understand why their longtime infielder is seen as a major risk in free agency.

Grant Young

Oct 30, 2024; New York, New York, USA; New York Yankees second baseman Gleyber Torres (25) breaks his bat on a ground out during the seventh inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers in game five of the 2024 MLB World Series at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images
Oct 30, 2024; New York, New York, USA; New York Yankees second baseman Gleyber Torres (25) breaks his bat on a ground out during the seventh inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers in game five of the 2024 MLB World Series at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images / Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images
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New York Yankees fans are well familiar with the game of Gleyber Torres.

While Torres had a relatively successful season at the plate for New York in 2024, the 27-year-old struggled mightily both on defense and on the base paths, which is shown by his advanced metrics per Baseball Savant.

Torres is now an unrestricted free agent after spending the first seven seasons of his MLB career in the Bronx. And in a November 25 article, Bleacher Report's Zachary D. Rymer deemed him one of the 'Biggest Boom-or-Bust 2024-25 MLB Free Agents'.

When discussing Torres' boom factor, Rymer wrote, "A team might be willing to make such a bet based solely on the notion that Torres needs a change of scenery. He's uncommonly young for a free agent, so he may yet recapture the brilliance of his All-Star seasons for the New York Yankees in 2018 and 2019.

"Or, teams could see him as the best leadoff man of this winter's free-agent class," he continued.

"Torres hasn't always been a leadoff man, but he sure took to the job well down the stretch of 2024. After taking over as the Yankees' regular in the No. 1 hole on August 16, he hit .313 with a .840 OPS."

Rymer then addressed Torres potentially being a bust free agency signing by saying, "The change-of-scenery aspect of Torres' free agency is legit. He's simply too young to have exhausted all his talent.

"It is nonetheless fair to question whether the power he showed earlier in his career is gone for good."

"That was a juiced ball era, after all, and Torres' fly balls are shorter on average than they were back then. He's also coming off a mere 35.4 hard-hit percentage. It's the lowest mark of his career, and it landed him in the 23rd percentile among all hitters," he added.

Whichever team Torres ends up playing for next season, their fanbase can probably expect a rollercoaster experience when he's on the field.

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Grant Young
GRANT YOUNG

Grant Young covers the New York Yankees, the New York Mets, and Women’s Basketball for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco, where he also played Division 1 baseball for five years. He believes Mark Teixeira should have been a first ballot MLB Hall of Fame inductee.

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