A Beautiful Day in the Gleyberhood
Gleyber Torres (NYY): 2-4, HR, R, 3 RBI.
As far as the Yankees go, the struggles of Gleyber Torres have been the most puzzling thing for me to figure out. Torres perhaps fell short of expectations as one of the best prospects in baseball. Still, he came into the season with a perfectly reasonable .338 wOBA and 116 wRC+ in just over 3,000 PA. For him to suddenly hit the wall at 27 is hard to explain. He came into last night’s game slashing a woeful .215/.295/.333 across 80 games. Things have gone further south lately. Aaron Boone benched him for not running out a grounder in a 9-7 loss to the Mets this past Tuesday.
Nonetheless, Torres (2-4, HR, R, 3 RBI) returned with a vengeance last night, drilling a 2-0 96 mph fastball from Nate Pearson 384 feet to left (98.4 EV) for his eighth home run of the year. Not exactly a booming shot, but, hey, we’ll take anything at this point.
If you’re wondering if he makes sense as a potential buy-low, I say yes. His PLV metrics aren’t as bad as you might’ve guessed based on the lack of results. He’s shown exemplary pitch recognition with a 124 in Strikezone Judgement (100 is average) and good swing decisions (117 Decision Value). However, his contact ability (90; 102 last year) and power (100; 106 last year) have lagged. Still, the decline isn’t enough for me to completely cross off the possibility of him returning to form.
If you’ve watched the Yankees lately, you’ll have noticed they’ve turned stagnant, last night’s outburst notwithstanding. Aaron Judge and Juan Soto continue to wield industrial-strength flame throwers but the rest of the lineup is more or less rubbing two twigs together hoping for smoke. With Giancarlo Stanton on the shelf, a resurgent Gleyber Torres would go a long way to remedying their malaise. Maybe it’s just a case of a good player simply having a down year for whatever reason, but there’s still a whole half to go.
Let’s see how the other hitters did Friday:
Jackson Chourio (MIL): 2-3, HR, R, 4 RBI.
Jameson Taillon probably wishes he could re-do that 2-1 to Chourio in the fourth. It wasn’t a big blast at 377 feet (98.4 EV) just beyond a leaping Ian Happ. Nevertheless, the 20-year-old rookie has his first career grand slam. He’s faced a steep learning curve thus far hitting .238 with a 24.7% K rate, 6.2% BB rate, and .676 OPS but this is how many stars start, so we gotta stay patient.
Jose Siri (TBR): 2-3, 2 HR, 2 R, 2 RBI, BB.
Siri put the Rays on the board in the second with a solo shot to left off rookie SP Mitchell Parker (404 feet, 108.6 EV). His second of the night, and 11th of the year, came on a 96 mph fastball out over the plate from Jacob Barnes and was crushed 428 feet to straightaway central (107.1 EV). Similar to last year, Siri is showcasing monstrous power (131 via PLV; 100 is average). I’m not convinced he can overcome his subpar contact ability (84; 100 is average) to be a force for standard formats but to his credit, he has shown improvements in swing decisions this year (104; 83 last year).
Tyler Soderstrom (OAK): 1-5, HR, R, RBI.
The 22-year-old’s seventh dinger of the year was a game-tying shot leading off the eighth against the funky side-armer Ryan Thompson (386 feet, 104.9 EV). He’s showcased some pop lately, hitting .257 with a .856 OPS and six home runs across 24 games in June. PLV pegs Soderstrom with a stratospheric 141 in power, so the batted ball data is very much in his favor. However, his contact ability (89) is a bit below average.
Brent Rooker, Shea Langeliers, and bench player Daz Cameron also went yard in a 9-4 beatdown of the D-backs. Zack Gelof also had a big night, going 3-for-4 with a triple and stolen base.
Carlos Correa (MIN): 2-4, HR, R, 2 RBI.
Correa continued his resurgent campaign by going yard against Logan Gilbert in the sixth, a two-run job to left (384 feet, 105.7 EV) putting the Twins ahead 2-1. Having been drilled on the wrist Thursday, Correa’s big night leads us to breathe a sigh of relief. Correa is fourth among qualified SS with an .887 OPS.
Brenton Doyle (COL): 2-4, HR, R, 2 RBI, SB.
Doyle broke rookie Drew Thorpe’s shutout in the sixth, socking one of his changeups 426 feet to left (107.7 EV) for his seventh of the year. Doyle has shown pretty decent pitch recognition (115 Strikezone Judgement via PLV) and good swing decisions (110 DV) but doesn’t move the needle in contact ability (91) or power (98). Still, he’s hitting leadoff and tied for 10th in steals, so he’s doing enough to justify a spot in most formats.
Colton Cowser (BAL): 1-4, HR, R, RBI.
Cowser made Max Scherzer pay, drilling a middle-middle, 92 mph, room-service fastball 407 feet to right (109.4 EV). Cowser has gone yard in three of his last four as he continues to push for regular playing time in a loaded O’s lineup that recently added Heston Kjerstad’s big power bat. Cowser’s power is PLV certified (129) but his contact ability is about a standard deviation below the norm (84).
Matt Chapman (SFG): 1-4, HR, R, 2 RBI, SB.
Chapman came through for the Giants in a big way, murdering a 95 mph heater from Daniel Hudson for a go-ahead two-run shot to left (413 feet, 110.3 EV). He’s hitting .235 with a .715 OPS, not too far from his career norms of .240 and .784 respectively. And, don’t look now, but he’s one stolen base away from doubling his previous career-high of seven.
Vinnie Pasquantino (KCR): 2-4, HR, 2 R, 3 RBI, BB.
Pasquantino’s ninth came in the eighth off righty reliever Darren McCaughan with the Royals already ahead 8-3. Pasquantino has been underwhelming thus far hitting .237 with a .734 OPS, 13th among qualified 1B. Still, I’m holding out hope that he can be a difference-maker in batting average considering his exemplary contact ability (126 via PLV).
Jackson Merrill (SDP): 1-5, HR, R, 3 RBI.
Merrill’s breakout party continued last night with a three-run shot to straightaway central on a fastball from Greg Weissert (407 feet, 105.2 EV). The 21-year-old rookie is hitting .282 with a .757 OPS, 18th among qualified OF. He’s showing excellent contact ability (119) with above-average pop (106) although his swing decisions (74 DV) are a bit rough around the edges.
Jose Miranda (MIN): 1-4, SB.
Miranda isn’t a threat to run, so the stolen base is an anomaly. Still, I think he’s done enough to warrant a look if you need CI help. He’s shown good contact ability (109) with slightly above-average power (103). Miranda’s upside probably isn’t huge, but he’s getting regular playing time in the middle of the Twins’ lineup, offering fantasy managers enough as a stopgap.