Today I wanted to look at Ronald Torreyes and the series he had against the Great Lakes Loons last week. He went a combined 4-12 with a walk and three triples in the series while driving in 5 runs over the three games. That is a pretty strong series that works out to a .333/.357/.833 line. The first thing I wanted to look at was the pitch by pitch break down over the series.
| Pitch | Type | Location | Result | Play Result |
| 1 | Pitch Out | Pitch Out | Takes | Pitch Out |
| 2 | FB | High Inside | Takes | Ball |
| 3 | FB | High Outside | Swings | Foul (LD to RF) |
| 4 | FB | Middle Inside | Swings | Line Out to CF |
| 5 | FB | Middle Low | Swings | Foul |
| 6 | CV | Low Outside | Swings | Line out to RF |
| 7 | FB | Low Middle | Swings | Fly out to LF |
| 8 | FB | High Inside | Takes | Ball |
| 9 | FB | Middle Middle | Swings | Single (LD to CF) |
| 10 | FB | Low Outside | Takes | Called Strike |
| 11 | FB | Low Inside | Takes | Called Strike |
| 12 | FB | Middle Inside | Swings | Foul |
| 13 | FB | Low Inside | Swings | Groundout to SS |
| 14 | FB | High Middle | Swings | Foul |
| 15 | CV | Low Outside | Takes | Called Strike |
| 16 | CV | Low Middle | Takes | Ball |
| 17 | CV | High Outside | Takes | Ball |
| 18 | FB | Middle Inside | Takes | HBP |
| 19 | FB | High Middle | Swings | Swinging K |
| 20 | FB | High Inside | Takes | Ball |
| 21 | CB | Low Inside | Takes | Called Strike |
| 22 | CV | Low Middle | Swings | Foul |
| 23 | FB | Middle Outside | Swings | Triple to RF |
| 24 | FB | Middle Outside | Swings | Triple to RCF |
| 25 | FB | Low Inside | Takes | Ball |
| 26 | CH | Low Inside | Takes | Ball |
| 27 | CV | High Middle | Takes | Ball |
| 28 | FB | Middle Middle | Takes | Called Strike |
| 29 | FB | Low Inside | Takes | Called Strike |
| 30 | FB | Low Inside | Takes | Ball |
| 31 | FB | High Middle | Takes | Ball |
| 32 | FB | High Inside | Swings | Triples to LF |
| 33 | CV | Middle Inside | Takes | Called Strike |
| 34 | CV | Low Outside | Takes | Ball |
| 35 | CH | Low Outside | Takes | Ball |
| 36 | CV | Middle Middle | Swings | Groundout to SS |
| 37 | CV | Middle Middle | Swings | Sac Fly to CF |
| 38 | FB | Middle Inside | Takes | Ball |
| 39 | FB | Middle Inside | Swings | Foul |
| 40 | CH | Low Outside | Swings | Groundout to 3B |
| 41 | CV | Low Outside | Takes | Ball |
| 42 | FB | Middle Inside | Swings | Foul |
| 43 | CV | Middle Outside | Takes | Ball |
| 44 | FB | High Middle | Swings | Fly out to CF |
| 45 | FB | Low Outside | Takes | Ball |
| 46 | FB | Middle Inside | Takes | Ball |
| 47 | FB | Middle Inside | Swings | Fly out to CF |
It seemed to me that early in the series, Torreyes was very aggressive at the plate and the numbers show that to be correct. He swung at six of the first 9 pitches he saw and one of the ones he took was a pitch out. It was interesting to note that as the series went along that he became more patient at the plate. Overall, he swung at the pitch 45% of the time in the series (21 swings on 47 pitches). He swung and missed just once in those 21 pitches, a fastball that was at his chest. Of the 26 pitches that he took, only seven went as called strikes (27%).
It was interesting to see how the Loons pitching staff adjusted to him as the series came to a close. They worked him much more with off speed pitches than with fastballs. At one point he saw five straight offspeed pitches before hitting a sac fly to score a run. If there was one thing that stood out to me in terms of his plate discipline is that he seemed to really like swinging at the fastball that was chest high. While he was able to generally hit the ball, I wonder if it’s something that he is going to have to get away from as he moves up the ladder. Several of them were clear balls in my eyes, but he was swinging away at them. He seemed to read and handle the curveball well and at least one of the opposing pitchers did have a solid breaking ball.
Overall, I think that Torreyes has a very good swing and solid plate discipline (well above average for his age). As I noted, I do wonder about how aggressive he can be on the high fastball and how that will play out as he continues to move up the ladder, but that was the only thing that stood out to me at the plate as something to have a concern with. He had three triples in the series, though I think that if the defense had played him normal rather than in, he only gets one triple and maybe a double on those hits.
Here is some video (not from this series) for those of you who haven’t seen him play yet: