José Torres picked up the Low-A Southeast Hitter of the Month award for September. That gives the Daytona Tortugas three different player of the month honors this past season. Pitchers James Proctor (May) and Bryce Bonnin (July) were named Pitcher of the Month in the league earlier in the season.
When the Cincinnati Reds drafted José Torres in the 3rd round of this summer’s draft, the team initially sent him (and all other draft picks) to the complex in Arizona where they would get their feet wet with the Arizona Complex League Reds. For Torres is was a rather short stay. The shortstop would play in just three games there before joining Daytona on August 18th.
His first full month would be an award winning one. During September José Torres would play in 16 games with Daytona and hit .404/.446/.684. Most of his games came at shortstop, but Torres did play in a few games as the Tortugas designated hitter. He had 4 doubles, 3 triples, 2 home runs, 5 steals, and 14 RBI during the month. That production turned enough heads in the league to get him the nod for Hitter of the Month in September for the league.
Coming out of the draft, José Torres was known more for his glove than his bat. Part of that could be that he was considered the best defensive shortstop in the entire draft. It’s easier to overlook the bat at times when someone stands out so much on the other side of the ball. In college he hit .300/.349/.533 in 69 games with NC State between the 2020 and 2021 seasons. While there may have been some doubters about how much he would hit as a professional, Torres did his best to silence those doubts with his debut. In his 28 games this season he hit .333/.387/.590 with 10 walks and 19 strikeouts between his two stops during the year.