Every baseball player dreams of reaching free agency with hopes of landing a lucrative, multi-year contract. Gleyber Torres, however, didn’t achieve that last offseason. Instead, he signed a one-year deal with the Detroit Tigers. But with the way he’s performing in 2025, the long-term contract he’s been aiming for may finally be on the horizon.
At 28 years old, Torres has emerged as a standout on a Tigers team tied with the Los Angeles Dodgers for the best record in Major League Baseball (52–32). He’s batting .284/.388/.440 with a personal-best 135 OPS+, indicating he’s hitting 35% better than the league average. He’s already compiled 2.2 WAR (Baseball-Reference), and he’s moved on to the second round of All-Star voting.
If selected, this would mark Torres’ third All-Star Game and his first since 2019—a testament to the ups and downs of his career. Originally acquired by the Yankees from the Cubs in 2016 while still a prospect, Torres quickly became a consensus top-10 prospect and debuted in 2018. Over his first two seasons, he accumulated 6.3 WAR and hit 62 home runs, appearing poised for stardom.
Although 2020 was a down year—likely impacted by the pandemic and inconsistent preparation—his 2021 season was even more disappointing, as he posted a .259/.331/.366 line and a 93 OPS+. He improved in 2022 and 2023 with OPS+ marks of 113 and 118, but hadn’t fully returned to his early-career form.
He entered 2024 aiming to rebound and boost his free-agent value, but that bounce-back didn’t fully materialize. He ended the year with a .257/.330/.378 slash line, a 101 OPS+, and led all second basemen in errors for the second straight season. Because of these setbacks and inconsistency, his free-agent market was limited, resulting in a one-year, $15 million deal with Detroit.
Now, Torres is having one of the best seasons of his career—and in an unexpected way. With 42 walks and only 39 strikeouts, he’s one of just five qualified players in MLB with more walks than strikeouts, joining elite names like Mookie Betts, Geraldo Perdomo, Juan Soto, and Kyle Tucker. His .388 on-base percentage ranks fifth in the American League.
While it’s common for someone like Soto to walk more than he strikes out, Torres had never shown that level of plate discipline before. His walk rate with the Yankees fluctuated from 6.8% to 13.8%, and his strikeout rate from 14.6% to 25.2%. This season, those rates stand at 13.7% and 12.7%, respectively. Such year-to-year variation underscores the unpredictable nature of his career.
Unless he falters dramatically in the second half, Torres is unlikely to settle for another short-term deal this winter. A substantial, multi-year contract—with a likely nine-figure value—awaits him. It’s the deal he’s long pursued; he just had to wait a little longer to earn it.
