TAMPA, Fla. _ It's not that Gleyber Torres was a pain in the Yankees' you-know-what this winter.
Far from it.
It's just the 21-year-old, who missed the last 3 { months of last season recovering from Tommy John surgery to repair a torn ulnar collateral ligament, consistently kept the club on its toes when it came to the pace of his rehab.
"It's kind of like we have a leash on him, trying to hold him back a little bit," Kevin Reese, the Yankees senior director of player development, said with a smile Monday. "He just wants to go, go, go."
Exhibit A of that attitude was early in the offseason, when Torres asking to play winter ball. General manager Brian Cashman, not wanting to take any chances with a player considered one of the crown jewels of a loaded farm system, denied the request.
Instead, the righty hitting and throwing Torres, rated by many as the top position prospect in the sport, continued the rehab he started not too long after the June surgery, posting periodic updates of his steady progress on social media.
Torres showed up nearly a month ago at the club's minor league complex to begin preparing for the spring, one in which Cashman has said he'll have an opportunity to win one of the open starting jobs at second or third. Reese said Torres has "no restrictions" in his work.
"I'm super excited," Torres said early Monday afternoon after working out at Steinbrenner Field. "Right now, I feel really good, 100 percent, and I'm working hard. My arm and everything feels all right. One-hundred percent again."
A promising minor-league season that likely would have resulted in his big-league debut by season's end, came to a sudden end last June 17 with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on a play at the plate in Buffalo. At the time Torres, who started the season with Double-A Trenton before earning a promotion in May, was hitting .309/.406/.457 with two homers and 16 RBIs in 23 games with Scranton.
"Every player doesn't want an injury but in baseball (things) happen," Torres said. "Everything happens for a reason."
The Yankees had Torres, a natural shortstop, play second and third last season in addition to short. The latter position, of course, will be manned by Didi Gregorius but, as the roster currently stands, there will be competitions at second and third.
"I feel pretty good at all positions," said Torres, the centerpiece acquisition of the Aroldis Chapman deal with the Cubs at the 2016 trade deadline. "Whatever the team needs, I can do."
If he has the kind of spring he had in 2017 it might be difficult to keep Torres off the Opening Day roster, though the Yankees can save a year of service time by storing him in the minors until April 16 (Cashman has said that won't be a factor in determining the outcome of the competitions). In 19 games last spring, Torres slashed .448/.469/.931 before being sent to minor league camp. When Gregorius got hurt during last spring's World Baseball Classic, some on the big-league coaching staff, as well as a few members of the personnel department, pushed for Torres join the club out of camp. Cashman said no, wanting to avoid putting too much on Torres' plate so soon.
This spring, there are no training wheels.
"I'm not thinking about that," Torres said of landing a starting job in camp. "Just work hard and enjoy the opportunity. Play hard and see what happens in the future."
