Yankees bring back bonus baby who got away

Luis Torrens came full circle rejoining the Yankees on Thursday, this time as catching insurance.

Signed to a minor-league contract, the journeyman will go to big-league spring training as a non-roster player seemingly destined to start the 2024 season in the minors, maybe in Double-A.

That’s not what the Yankees envisioned the first time they signed Torrens, who turns 28 in May.

In July 2012, Torrens was signed as an amateur free agent out of Venezuela for $1.3 million, and that was a big signing bonus in those days. After the signing, the New York Post quoted a scout who claimed Torrens was a better catching prospect than the most touted one in their farm system, Gary Sanchez.

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Torrens seemed destined for stardom. MLB Pipeline had the 6-foot, 217 pounder ranked the Yankees’ 16th-best prospect in 201, 10th best in 2015 and 12th in 2016.

After the 2016 season, the Yankees took a risk not putting Torrens on their 40-man roster. They didn’t think anyone will take him the Rule 5 Draft because he hadn’t yet played above A-ball because injuries limited him to 162 games and 642 at-bats in his first four seasons.

They were wrong. The Reds drafted Torrens, then traded him that day to the Padres, who maintained rights by keeping the 20-year-old on their big-league roster all season. He barely played in 2017 because he was so raw, but the Padres didn’t mind basically playing a man short all season. They thought they’d get a big payoff eventually.

They were wrong, too. Torrens wound up going back to the minors in 2018, then was back in the majors with San Diego for just seven games in 2019 and seven more in the first five months of 2020 when he was traded to Seattle.

With the Mariners, Torrens finally had a breakout season in 2021, but he was DHing more than catching while batting .243 with 15 homers and 47 RBI in 108 games.

By then, the consensus was that Torrens wasn’t going to ever pan out as a solid big-league catcher. He had a good throwing arm, but his other catching skills were considered below average.

Torrens wound up hitting .225 with three homers in 55 games for the Mariners in 2022, then last season played just 18 major league games, the first 13 for the Cubs and then five more after returning to Seattle. In Triple-A last season, he hit .244 with four homers in 86 at-bats in 24 games with Rochester and Tacoma.

Torrens hunted a major-league deal after becoming a free agent last fall, then settled for a minor-league deal with the Yankees.

Jose Trevino will be the Yankees’ starting catcher again this season with Austin Wells favored to beat out Ben Rortvedt for the No. 2 spot.

Rortvedt probably will start the season sharing the Triple-A catching duties with Ben Rice or Torres.

Rice may begin the season in Double-A because he played only 48 games there last season, but he raked for Somerset, batting .327 with 16 homers and 48 RBI.

YANKEES NON-ROSTER PLAYERS

PITCHERS

RHP Nick Burdi — 2-2, 9.39 ERA, 48 games in 4 MLB seasons with Pirates (2018-20) and Dodgers (2023).

RHP Yerry De Los Santos — 1-4, 4.14 ERA, 48 games in 2 MLB seasons with Pirates (2022-23).

LHP Oddanier Mosqueda — No MLB experience. 4-4, 5.31 ERA, 48 games with Triple-A Worcester in 2023.

RHP Dennis Santana — 8-14, 5.17 ERA, 143 games, 1 start in 6 MLB seasons with Dodgers (2018-21), Rangers (2021-22) and Mets (2023).

INFIELDERS

Jeter Downs — .182 hitter, 1 HR, 5 RBI in 20 MLB games with Red Sox (2022) and Nationals (2023).

Kevin Smith — .173 hitter, 8 HR, 25 RBI, .516 OPS in 114 MLB games with Blue Jays (2021) and Athletics (2022-23).

Josh VanMeter — .206 hitter, 19 HR, 79 RBI, .640 OPS in 300 MLB games with Reds (2019-20), Diamondbacks (2022-21) and Pirates (2022).

OUTFIELDERS

Luis Gonzalez — .253 hitter, 4 HR, 36 RBI, .690 OPS in 107 MLB games with White Sox (2020-21) and Giants (2022).

Oscar Gonzalez — .269 hitter, 13 HR, 55 RBI, 712 OPS in 145 MLB games with Guardians (2022-23).

CATCHER

Luis Torrens — .227 hitter, 19 HR, 79 RBI, .643 OPS in 269 MLB games with Padres (2017, 2019-20), Mariners (2020-22, 2023) and Cubs (2023).

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Randy Miller may be reached at [email protected].

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