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NY Post
New York Post
1 Mar 2023


NextImg:Gleyber Torres ‘always looking to help’ youngsters even if they take his job

TAMPA — Soon the Yankees will be losing Gleyber Torres, a proud Venezuelan, to the World Baseball Classic.

With several top infield prospects expected to be ready soon, there is wonder whether the Yankees will lose Torres more permanently at some point, through a potential trade that has been rumored for years now.

If so, some of the players who figure to benefit from Torres’ vacant second-base spot would be losing a leader.

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Torres, no longer a rising prospect but not quite a wily veteran at 26 years old, has used his voice more with several around the Yankees clubhouse, particularly a few young Venezuelans.

Oswald Peraza, competing for the shortstop job, has watched Torres and said he has been helpful in acclimating to major league life.

“He’s got everything [in tools] to play really good baseball,” Torres said this week about Peraza, who is well-regarded for his arm and middle-infield defense.

Torres has told Peraza, whom he got to know as a minor leaguer, to just be himself — a message he passes along to any young player he can.

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Gleyber Torres
Getty Images

When Oswaldo Cabrera, another young Venezuelan, was called up for his debut last August, Torres had several chats with Cabrera.

The two have known each other for years — since 2015 or ’16, when they worked out together in Miami with the same personal trainer — and Torres wanted to ensure Cabrera did not try to do too much.

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“He was a mentor to me,” Cabrera said. “[Torres would say,] ‘Don’t put too many things in your mind. Play like you know how to play.’ He had watched me play spring training games in the past, so he was like, ‘Just be you. You don’t have to be other guys.’ ”

Torres himself was not just any guy.

As a 16-year-old in Venezuela, Torres was a rising star who signed with the Cubs for $1.7 million in 2013.

He did not know Cabrera or Peraza back then, but Cabrera said most people in his home country knew about Torres.

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“He was the top one when he signed,” said Cabrera, who was a less-hyped prospect two years later. “We know the top one.”

Oswald Peraza and Gleyber Torres stretching before working out on a back field at Steinbrenner Field the New York Yankees Spring Training complex in Tampa, Florida.
Oswald Peraza and Gleyber Torres stretching before working out on a back field at Steinbrenner Field the New York Yankees Spring Training complex in Tampa, Fla.
Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post

Torres was shipped to the Yankees in 2016 and debuted in 2018 at just 21.

He adjusted right away and said “many people” around the Yankees made life easy for him as a rookie.

“I had to learn about many major league things really quickly,” Torres said. “As a younger guy, you play good because you feel the most [comfortable].”

“That helped me in the past. I just want to do the same thing for [Yankees prospects].”

Oswaldo Cabrera warms up before the game against the Houston Astros in game one of the American League Championship Series.

Oswaldo Cabrera warms up before the game against the Houston Astros in game one of the American League Championship Series.
Getty Images

Torres is paying it forward despite what success from players such as Peraza and Cabrera could mean for his own career.

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Torres, an All-Star in 2018 and ‘19, has taken a step back the past two seasons and settled in as a solid, if not specular, second baseman.

It is possible the Yankees try to upgrade from within.

Torres tries not to think about it and said the young players can help the club win a World Series, which is his goal.

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“I just try to share my experience in any type of situation. I’m always looking to help,” Torres said.

So he stays in the ears of Peraza and Cabrera, even as they loom as potential threats to his job.

“[Torres] is a really big piece in my life,” Cabrera said.