Detroit Tigers sign former Yankees infielder Gleyber Torres

DETROIT – The Detroit Tigers have signed former New York Yankees infielder Gleyber Torres.

Torres, 28, looked like a budding superstar in his first two seasons, hitting 62 homers and 42 doubles with an .849 OPS across 267 games.

Since then, he’s been more solid than great, averaging about 20 homers and 29 doubles per 162 games, with a .262/.330/.414 slash line.

Last season, Torres was almost exactly league average offensively, with a 101 OPS+ (100 is average). He hit 15 homers and 26 doubles across 665 plate appearances, with a .330 on-base percentage and .744 OPS.

If you’re a Tigers fan and the name sounds familiar, you be thinking of the 2019 trade deadline, when rumors involving a Matthew Boyd deal swirled around the Tigers and Yankees. Back then, Torres was untouchable.

Torres has strong plate discipline and doesn’t often chase out of the strike zone, but he put up subpar hard-hit metrics in 2024. On top of that, he only would have had nine homers if he played all 162 games at Comerica Park.

Torres hasn’t played anywhere other than second base the past two seasons, so we’ll see how the Tigers adjust the infield after this move. It’s possible Torres will take a stab at third base, a position he’s never played at the MLB level. Or this could bump Colt Keith over to first, at the expense of Spencer Torkelson.

Either way, the Tigers added a solid major-league infielder. Over the past three years, he’s totaled 8.7 WAR, so he makes the team better.

The Tigers announced the deal is for one year.