Gleyber Torres Heads to IL, But Avoids Significant Injury

New York Yankees shortstop Gleyber Torres was placed on the injured list with a thumb sprain. Manager Aaron Boone said Torres avoided a significant injury

KANSAS CITY — Gleyber Torres was placed on the injured list on Monday afternoon, but manager Aaron Boone believes the shortstop dodged more of a significant injury.

Shortly after the team announced Torres had been placed on the 10-day IL with a left thumb sprain on Monday, Boone was asked about the severity of the injury.

"We'll know a lot more in the next couple days when he sees specialists and all that," Boone said. "I would say last night we got good news. I think we were concerned that it was going to be more serious."

After Torres was taken out of Sunday's game with an apparent hand injury, visibly in pain after sliding headfirst into second base while stealing in the fourth inning, Boone mentioned that he was "concerned" about Torres' status. 

Now, the shortstop is expected to miss 10 to 20 games, Boone said. It's never a good thing to lose your starting shortstop, but it looks like New York lucked out.

"I actually texted with Gleyber, too," Boone added. "I think he was a little bit relieved and already at the stadium back in New York this afternoon doing some rehab stuff and feeling better. So I think we were kind of expecting the worst and probably got some pretty good news last night."

Aaron Boone says the #Yankees got "good news" about the severity of Gleyber Torres' thumb injury.

The initial thought is 10-20 days, Boone said. But they'll have a better idea in the next couple of days when Torres can see a specialist.

— Max Goodman (@MaxTGoodman) August 9, 2021

As much as Torres struggled throughout the early parts of this season, the 24-year-old was swinging a hot bat and producing tremendous numbers over the last few weeks. Since July 9, the series in Houston leading up to the All-Star break, Torres was batting .304 (28-for-92) with 11 extra-base hits and an .832 OPS in 25 games. 

That's quite the turnaround for Torres, who was hitting just .176 with three extra-base hits and a .500 OPS in his previous 25 games before that stretch began.  

With Gio Urshela suffering a setback in his rehab process, and Anthony Rizzo on the COVID-19 injured list, New York's infield won't be at full strength for quite some time. On Monday, Andrew Velazquez made his Yankee debut, called up from Triple-A to start at shortstop. Tyler Wade also had his number called, playing third base. 

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