Crowd loud for Gleyber in quiet Yanks debut
No. 5 overall prospect 'super happy' to be in bigs; goes 0-for-4 at plate
NEW YORK -- Getting called up to the Major Leagues was a dream come true for top Yankees prospectGleyber Torres. And even though Torres went hitless in the Yankees' 5-1 win over the Blue Jays on Sunday, he was still smiling when it was over.
"Super happy," Torres said, repeating the words he had used when he learned on Saturday that he was being promoted. "And I'm happy for how the team won."
Torres got a quick taste of life as a Yankee, basking in the cheers of the crowd during the Bleacher Creatures' first-inning roll call. Torres later received a standing ovation when he came to the plate for the first time in the second inning, with many in the lower deck standing through his entire five-pitch at-bat.
Torres struck out in that at-bat on an 81-mph slider from Blue Jays starter Jaime Garcia, and he grounded into a double play, popped out and flied out in his final three trips to the plate. But Yankees manager Aaron Boone saw positives in the way Torres controlled the strike zone, working his way to a 3-1 count before the double-play grounder.
"The first at-bat, I thought he was really anxious," Boone said. "You could tell. But then he really settled in."
Torres had two chances in the field at second base, throwing out Devon Travis in the fifth inning and starting a double play in the sixth on Yangervis Solarte's grounder.
Called up before the game from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, Torres -- MLB's No. 5 overall prospect per MLB Pipeline -- is the youngest player to debut before July 1 for the storied franchise since Derek Jeter took the field on May 29, 1995. The infielder struggled in Spring Training -- his first action after recovering from Tommy John surgery on his left (non-throwing) elbow -- and compiled a .598 OPS over 13 Grapefruit League games. But Torres got off to a hot start for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, putting together a .347/.393/.510 slash line with five extra-base hits before his callup.
"I'm super happy," Torres told reporters on Saturday in Moosic, Pa., where he was removed after six innings in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre's 6-5 loss to Toledo. "It's like a dream is coming true. I'm happy for my family."
The Yankees acquired Torres as part of the megadeal involving closer Albertin Chapman in July 2016. Since Torres spent more than 20 days in the Minors to begin '18, his free agency will be delayed until after the 2024 season -- meaning he will be under team control for seven years, rather than six.