New York Yankees prospect Gleyber Torres out with Tommy John surgery

Multiple outlets are reporting this evening that New York Yankees prospect Gleyber Torres has injured his elbow, requiring Tommy John surgery. He will miss the rest of the 2017 season.

Per Sam Dykstra at Milb.com:

Torres injured his elbow when he was tagged during a play at the plate Saturday. He did not return to the game, but on Sunday he tweeted, "Thank you all for your good wishes I feel better today just have to rest.!" However, a meeting with Yankees team physician Dr. Christopher Ahmad showed a tear that would require Tommy John. The Yankees added that they expect Torres to be ready for Spring Training in 2018.

Torres began 2017 with Trenton in the Double-A Eastern League, hitting .273/.367/.496 in 32 games. Promoted to Triple-A Scranton on May 22nd, he was hitting .309/.406/.457 in 23 contests, drawing raves from managers and scouts.

While obviously an annoyance, Tommy John is not necessarily a serious setback for Torres’ future.

He is only 20 years old and the track record for hitters coming back from the procedure is very good. We’ll have to see if it impacts his defense at shortstop, but long term this incident is unlikely to make any difference for Torres as a hitter.

Young Minnesota Twins slugger Miguel Sano, for example, missed all of the 2014 season with Tommy John and was able to work off the rust quickly enough to hit 18 homers as a Major League rookie in 2015.