Around the Empire: Yankees news - 4/7/23

New York Post | Joel Sherman: Perhaps the best story of the Yankees’ first week has been the success of Gleyber Torres. His numbers, a 1.349 OPS and a couple homers, are great, sure, but just as promising has been how Torres has accumulated those numbers. He’s hunted pitches to drive to the opposite field, while also showing improved plate discipline, walking six times against two strikeouts, a season after running a career-worst ratio in that department. He’s also been a threat on the bases. This more well-rounded version of Torres is probably the best iteration of the player we’ve seen thus far.

FanGraphs | Esteban Rivera: Check out Esteban’s treatise on Anthony Volpe and his vault lead. As Esteban explains, Volpe employs a different kind of lead than you’ll see from most big leaguers, taking a small primary lead, and then shuttling, or vaulting as the pitcher starts toward home plate. It’s a fun-to-watch style of baserunning, and one that we’ve already seen Volpe use to wreak havoc on the bases.

New York Post | Dan Martin: Just a few games in, the Bronx faithful are already raining boos down on Aaron Hicks. Hicks said he understood the jeers “100 percent”, and that he’s focused more on his own play than on the noise. That the situation has already soured like this, after less than a week of play, just shows how sour the relationship between the fans and the outfielder is at this point. Hicks hit .216/.330/.313 last year, and has zero hits and one walk in eight plate appearances in 2023.