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It took just 32 games for New York Yankees top prospect Gleyber Torres to conquer Double-A ball.
With reports of his imminent promotion breaking Sunday evening, the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders made the move official Monday. The 20-year-old was promoted to Triple-A, taking the spot of Sunday’s spot-starter Eric Ruth, who was sent back down to Trenton.
Torres will make his Triple-A debut Tuesday when the RailRiders open their three-game series in Columbus.
“He’s done everything at Double-A,” Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said, via yankees.com. “There’s no reason to hold him back.
“I took Melky Cabrera from Double-A to play center field at Fenway Park (in 2005). The bottom line is if you’re in Double-A, you’re essentially in a position to be knocking on the door. That’s true of anybody.”
The 20-year-old infielder owns a .277 batting average with five home runs, 10 doubles, 22 runs scored and 18 RBI with Trenton. Now he joins the top offense in the International League.
Torres adds an interesting aspect to the RailRiders infield. Both himself and Tyler Wade offer plenty of flexibility for RailRiders manager Al Pedrique.
Torres has played 19 games at shortstop, six at third base and five at second. Wade has played 25 games at shortstop, six games at second base and four at third. He has also appeared in the outfield three times.
With veterans Rob Refsnyder and Ruben Tejada also in the mix, Pedrique could go multiple ways with his lineup.
You can expect both Torres and Wade to be positioned at either short, second or third on a daily basis. Tejada has the flexibility to play second, third and short while Refsnyder can play second and first. It would also be fair to assume that Refsnyder and Tejada would be designated hitter candidates, often sharing the job with fourth outfielder Mark Payton.
While both Refsnyder and Tejada are veteran presences on this team, they’ve both had their shot at the majors. Even though Wade and Torres are up-and-coming prospects yet to make their MLB debuts, Refsnyder and Tejada have been constant presences in the RailRiders’ daily lineup and should continue to. Both have appeared in 31 games and own batting averages over .280.
The Yankees have already made it clear that they view Wade as their future Chicago Cubs’ Ben Zobrist type of utility player. With his flexibility, it makes sense that Torres will play at short more frequently than Wade.
“It’s been pretty smooth. (Yankees outfield instructor) Reggie Willits has helped me a lot,” Wade said of the transition. “If you put me at third, short, second, left, center, right, it’s just as natural as if I play short every day.”
When it comes to the batting order, Pedrique will have some more interesting decisions to make in that department as well.
Torres has played 19 games from the three hole and 13 batting second.
With Dustin Fowler batting second, his preferred spot, and has the stats to back it up, Torres will likely bat third. Even though Fowler’s played more games batting third than second (20 to 18), he’s batting .366 from the two hole compared to .229 from the three hole.
But where does this leaves Clint Frazier and Refsnyder?
The pair have been sharing the three hole of late, with one batting third and the other fifth. As long as Mike Ford is with the RailRiders — he was promoted from Double-A on May 14, filling in for the injured Ji-Man Choi — the 24-year-old first baseman will occupy the cleanup spot. Ford has hit .303 with four home runs, three doubles and 10 RBI in eight games with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
This likely puts Frazier fifth and Refsnyder sixth. Frazier is still a top prospect and the Yankees will likely want him to bat as high in the order as possible.
Another, yet unlikely option, would be to bat Frazier fourth and slide Ford down the lineup. The 22-year-old outfield has only batted fourth nine times in his professional career three times earlier this season and six times in rookie ball in 2013.
“Since we got him in the organization, he’s shown the ability to give quality at-bats every single day,” Yankees vice president of player development Gary Denbo said, via NJ.com. “He’s shown some power, he’s played exceptional defense, throwing has been accurate and he’s getting better and better on the base paths. All the things we want him to check off on his way to becoming a major league player, he’s been doing it for us.”