New York Yankees’ Gleyber Torres benched for poor performance: Can the struggling second baseman find his groove and turn things around?

New York Yankees second baseman Gleyber Torres was not included in manager Aaron Boone’s lineup for Wednesday’s game against the cross-town Mets. This came after Torres failed to properly run out a ground ball late in the previous game, which may have contributed to his absence. In recent games, Torres has been struggling with his hitting, batting .108/.222/.324 with seven home runs in 80 games this season, resulting in an OPS+ of 78. This is a significant drop from his career OPS+ of 114 coming into the 2024 season, which is also his contract year.

Boone’s response when asked about the incident leading to Torres being benched was somewhat evasive, expressing the need for Torres to step up and be a presence in the lineup, especially during their current stretch of games. The Yankees are currently leading the Orioles by two games in the American League East but have recently suffered losses in five of their last six games and seven of their last nine. They are also dealing with injuries to key players Anthony Rizzo and Giancarlo Stanton.

Despite their recent struggles, the Mets have been performing well in June with the best record in MLB at 14-6, making them a challenging opponent for the Yankees in their mid-week series. The pressure is on for Torres to improve his performance and help the Yankees turn things around as they face tough competition in the league.