Depending on whom you ask, Gleyber Torres is the top prospect in the Chicago Cubs’ system (he’s at least top three). Playing in his first full-season league at just 18 years old, the talented shortstop has impressed all year long.
Not only has he been sufficiently strong with the glove that many now believe he can stick at short long-term, but he’s also done work with the bat.
For example, yesterday, he did this:
Gleyber Torres (@TorresGleyber) connects on his third HR of the season — first at home. pic.twitter.com/OX9Lo56BYJ
— Mike Monaco (@MikeMonaco_) August 20, 2015
Solid bat toss, too.
Although homers haven’t yet been Torres’s thing – that was just his third this year – his overall offensive performance has been plenty strong, especially when you consider his age and position. He’s hitting .302/.363/.399 with a strikeout rate right at 20%, and a walk rate just under 9%. He’s got the 14th best OPS in the Midwest League, despite playing the entire season as the second youngest player in the league.
When South Bend’s season ends the second week of September, so, too, will Torres’s season. Given his youth, I’m not sure we’ll see him get the late-season bump to Myrtle Beach for their playoff run, as we’ve seen other players get in recent years. It’s been a long year already for a young player, and he instead might go to instructionals in Arizona after the season, and then get some much-deserved rest until early next year.