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BALTIMORE – Gleyber Torres says he goes from shortstop to second base in stride.
Yankees manager Aaron Boone decided to make the switch after Torres made 18 mistakes this season, including four last week.
“Everything for the team,” Torres said before the Yankees beat the Baltimore Orioles 7-2 on Tuesday. “I haven’t really done a good job short. I’ve made too many mistakes and I feel the way we are right now we can’t make any mistakes. So I feel really good. to move on to the second and I just want to be part of the team. “
Torres was primarily a second baseman in 2018 and 2019, seeing time off the shortstop when Didi Gregorius was injured. When Gregorius left as a free agent ahead of the 2020 season, the Yankees moved Torres through the diamond for the shortstop.
Boone moves Gio Urshela from third base to shortstop and DJ LeMahieu from second to third base. Torres made the switch for Monday’s game against Minnesota.
“I always feel like his best baseball is in front of him,” Boone said of Torres. “I just felt like the time was right. Over the last week I felt the weight of a few mistakes he made there had a pretty big impact.”
Torres made his 19th mistake this season and his fifth since Sept. 5 in his second game since making the switch when he allowed potential double-play Ramon Urias in the sixth inning on Tuesday to bounce off a glove for a mistake. Torres followed by making a tough pickup on Pedro Severino’s floor, stepping on the second and throwing in the first for a double play.
“It was good to see him bounce back from a bespoke double play there,” Boone said after the game. “The next play, he makes a really good play on a ball.”
Torres was called out for a defensive substitution in the eighth.
Torres finished Tuesday with an average of 0.249 with seven homers and 45 RBIs in 109 games. He hit .243 with three home runs and 16 RBIs in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. Torres hit .278 with 38 homers and 90 RBIs in 2019, making the American League All-Star team for the second straight season.
“It weighed him down a bit,” Boone said of Torres’ defense. “Hopefully that’s something that can release him a bit later. Hopefully that will put us in a position to play our best baseball.”
“The way I played the first two years of my career, I played second and did two all-star games,” Torres said. “Whatever they need. If I have to go back to shorts next season, I’ll be available. If not, I’ll stay second and do my thing like the last two years.”
Torres said he has no preference to return to the shortstop next year.
“I’m sure he can be a really good second baseman,” said Boone. “When he makes a mistake in defense it tends to go on for weeks on end. If you really watch him and watch us really closely, he played a lot regularly on shortstop. He did a lot of routine. He had a game here and there where he made a mistake that ends up costing us dearly or we don’t get that final and that creates a bigger story.
“It’s kind of part of the pressure of this position and it had a little impact. But I think he’s capable of playing the position.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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