Detroit Tigers’ Gleyber Torres talks Miguel Cabrera, free agency
Detroit Tigers second baseman Gleyber Torres talks to reporters on Saturday, Dec. 28, 2024, after signing a 1-year, $15M contract in free agency.
- Gleyber Torres is having a great season with the Detroit Tigers and is a leading candidate for the AL All-Star starting second baseman spot.
- After signing a one-year deal with Detroit, Torres is on pace for a lucrative contract in free agency, but remains focused on team success and a World Series run.
TAMPA, FL — Detroit Tigers second baseman Gleyber Torres is the best player at his position in the American League. He deserves to take the field for the AL team as a starter in the All-Star Game on July 15 at Truist Park in Atlanta.
The 28-year-old ranks among MLB’s top-15 players with a .386 on-base percentage. He has 39 walks compared to 34 strikeouts. He is on pace for more than a dozen home runs. He has a career-best .990 fielding percentage.
On the field, Torres has emerged as one of the Tigers’ best position players, alongside Riley Greene. Off the field, he has taken a leadership-by-example role, something he wasn’t widely known for during his previous seven seasons, all with the New York Yankees.
He is more focused than ever before.
And he’s consistent.
“I’ve put a lot more focus into getting a really good plan,” Torres said. “I’ve been working really hard for that. I’ve been really focused on continuing to do my job and get better every day. I’m really focused on the little things.”
In free agency, Torres bet on himself when he turned down multi-year offers from other teams to sign a one-year, $15 million contract with the Tigers in December 2024. From the start, he viewed Detroit as a launching pad — a place where he could rebuild his value, then re-enter free agency in search of a deal worth at least $100 million.
He is well on his way to that nine-figure contract.
“As a player, you have to believe in yourself,” said Torres, an All-Star in 2018 and 2019 (the first two seasons of his eight-year MLB career). “It doesn’t matter what happened in the past. If you know you can do better, you have to bet on yourself. That’s what I did.”
In 2025, Torres is hitting .279 with seven home runs and an .807 OPS in 65 games, settling in as the No. 2 batter in the Tigers’ lineup. He ranks in the 93rd percentile with a 13.9% walk rate and the 94th percentile with a 12.1% strikeout rate.
His greatest strength? He almost never swings at pitches outside of the strike zone.
“He generally only swings at good pitches,” manager A.J. Hinch said. “For a guy who walks a lot, he’s not trying to walk. He wants to hit, but his knowledge of the strike zone is arguably as good as any hitter that we have.”
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His consistency stems from staying focused on his plan, as prescribed by Tigers hitting coaches Michael Brdar, Keith Beauregard and Lance Zawadzki. With the Tigers, Torres has developed a daily routine built on preparation and communication.
Before games, he studies the opposing pitchers by watching videos and examining data during the hitters meeting. During games, he checks in with the hitting coaches between plate appearances.
“The preparation before the game is really key for me,” Torres said, “and just trusting the plan in every at-bat.”
His teammates have taken notice.
“It’s a lot easier said than done,” Spencer Torkelson said. “Everyone says, ‘Every at-bat, have a plan.’ Something about this game and 162 games, it’s hard to trust your plan for 600 at-bats. It’s really special to see what he’s doing.”
Torres is one of the reasons for Javier Báez‘s resurgence. They’re always talking in the dugout, usually with Torres telling Báez what to expect from pitchers. Those tips started in spring training, when Torres urged Báez to stop swinging at down-and-away sliders.
“We talk before the at-bats and after the at-bats,” Báez said.
Suddenly, Báez is enjoying an AL Comeback Player of the Year-caliber season, hitting .290 with a career-best 21.3% strikeout rate — just one year after the industry viewed him as the worst hitter in baseball.
“I’m telling him how the pitches are moving,” Torres said. “Is the fastball moving away? Are the breaking balls moving side to side? I just tell him what I see.”
Torkelson compared Torres to Miguel Cabrera, a Tigers legend (and a fellow Venezuelan).
Torres isn’t ready to accept that kind of praise.
But Torkelson meant it.
“If he’s 0-for-2, and he’s trying to squeak out a knock, he salvages days better than anyone — almost like Miggy did,” said Torkelson, who played with Cabrera in 2022 and 2023. “When he needs a hit, he takes his single to right field. He’s a special hitter.”
It would be easy for Torres to start thinking ahead to his chances of securing a $100 million payday in free agency, but he isn’t thinking about November 2025 — not when his sights are set on leading the Tigers to the World Series in October 2025.
For now, he is focused on winning each day.
“I’ll put up some really good numbers,” Torres said, “and then let’s see what happens in the future.”
Torres — who competed in the 2024 World Series for the Yankees but lost the championship to the Los Angeles Dodgers — credits the success of his new team for fueling his own. Not only do the Tigers lead the AL, but they also have several players worthy of the All-Star Game.
For example, Torres isn’t putting pressure on himself to do too much because he trusts Greene and the rest of the lineup, and he’s motivated to stay committed to his plan because his teammates are trying to do the same.
“He’s incredible,” Greene said. “He picks it and he hits it.”
“It seems like he’s always on base,” Torkelson said.
Torres is expected to represent the Tigers at the All-Star Game, likely as the AL’s starting second baseman. He has outperformed everyone else at his position — and it’s not even close.
The best part?
He plans to keep doing this for another four months.
“I’ve been doing a lot of work from the beginning,” Torres said. “It’s going to be a long season. I always say, it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish. But I feel good. I’m helping the team.”
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.
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