The New York Yankees have lost another important player to injury. On Monday, the club placed shortstop Gleyber Torres on the 10-day injured list with a left thumb sprain, the team announced. Bronx native and utility man Andrew Velazquez was called up in a corresponding move.
Torres suffered the injury sliding into second base during a stolen base attempt Sunday. Yankees manager Aaron Boone said the team's initial thinking is Torres will miss 10-20 days. Here's the play:
"I'm a little concerned about him right now," Boone told reporters, including MLB.com's Bill Ladson, following Sunday's game.
The Yankees now have 20 players on the injured list (five COVID and 15 baseball injuries). They've placed 15 players on the injured list since the All-Star break, including four starting position players (Torres, Anthony Rizzo, Gary Sánchez, Gio Urshela), three starting pitchers (Gerrit Cole, Domingo Germán, Jordan Montgomery), and their closer (Aroldis Chapman).
With Torres sidelined, the Yankees are likely to play utility infielder Tyler Wade at shortstop. Urshela is expected to return from his hamstring injury Wednesday and he's played some shortstop this year. At that point the Yankees could put him at short with Rougned Odor at third, where he's been filling in for Urshela, and DJ LeMahieu at second.
Torres, 24, is having a down season overall, though he had three hits before the injury Sunday, and owns a .300/.337/.500 batting line since the All-Star break. He's hitting .253/.328/.351 overall in 2021.
The Yankees come into Monday in third place in the AL East at 61-50. They've won eight of their last 10 games to climb to within 2 1/2 games of the second wild card spot.
