Gleyber Torres, the New York Yankees second baseman is the latest rookie of the team to earn his pinstripes right off the bat. On a day when it seemed hard to come by in the Bronx, Torres became the youngest Yankees player to hit a walk-off three home runs in the ninth inning to beat the Cleveland Indians 7-4 on Sunday at the Yankees Stadium. This is 15th victory made by New York Yankees in 16 games.
Torres, at 21 years old and 144 days is the youngest player of the franchise to have bettered Yankees legend Mickey Mantle, who was 21 years old and 185 days when he hit three-run, ninth inning drive against the Boston’s player Ellis Kinder with a 6-3 win in the year 1953.
Just before the game began, the team manager Aaron Boone was asked about what skill stood out most about Tortes when he made his debut. Boone said that Yankees was just a good all-rounder player, without having any special aspect of his game which might wow somebody.
Since the year 1900, Torres’ is the first major league position player to have started and to be on the winning side in 14 out of 15 of his big league games. His 11 RBI are tied up for the eight most by a Yankee player in his first 15 career games.
Torres is hitting .357 on-base percentage and .327 with two homers in the 15 games and 52 at-bats, which are mostly from the No. 9 spot in the lineup. Catcher Gary Sanchez said, “Everybody knows the talent Gleyber has. That’s not a secret. The first time I played with him was back in 2017 spring training, and he showed what kind of player he is. To me, he’s just doing what he knows to do.”
