Nationals Interested In Gleyber Torres As Third Base Option

The Nationals are showing interest in Gleyber Torres, writes Joel Sherman of the New York Post. Sherman reports that the Nats have inquired on the infielder’s willingness to move to third base.

Torres has never played third base in the majors. He has spent his entire MLB career in the middle infield. Since moving off shortstop in 2022, Torres has essentially been limited to second base. He stuck at the keystone after the Yankees acquired Jazz Chisholm Jr. from the Marlins at last summer’s deadline. New York moved Chisholm to the hot corner instead.

While Torres seemingly didn’t want to move off second base with the Yankees, he might be more willing to do so now. It’s not a midseason change that would require him to learn third base on the fly. There’s also the simple matter that expanding his versatility would give Torres more appeal. Free agency is generally not kind to players who are pigeonholed at second. Sliding to third would allow him to field broader interest.

Washington has one of the weakest third base groups in the majors. Light-hitting José Tena is the expected starter. Brady House, one of the organization’s top prospects, has gotten to the high minors. House struck out at an elevated 28.8% clip in 54 Triple-A games, though, so he’s unlikely to start next season in the big leagues. General manager Mike Rizzo has spoken about the team’s desire to add a middle-of-the-order bat. Torres doesn’t really qualify as such, but he’s a good hitter who would upgrade the lineup. The corner infield and designated hitter are the biggest questions marks in the Nats’ offense.

At second base, former top prospect Luis García Jr. is coming off the strongest season of his career. The lefty-swinging infielder hit .282/.318/.444 with 18 longballs and 22 stolen bases over 140 games. García’s defensive grades remain mixed, but this was easily his best year at the plate. García and Torres have a broadly similar profile as bat-first second basemen with good contact skills.

Torres, 28 on Friday, hit 15 homers with a .257/.330/.378 slash across 665 plate appearances. That middling production was mostly a result of a horrible April. Torres had a typically strong .267/.339/.409 slash from the start of May onward. He continued to produce during the Yankees’ run to the World Series.

If the Nationals were to land Torres as a third baseman, they’d be running a risk defensively. He’s not an especially good defender at the keystone. The position change is a potential complication, while the middle infield duo of García and CJ Abrams is already one of the league’s weakest defensive combinations. The Angels, who would likely keep Torres at second base, are also known to be in the mix.