Why is torres so bad

However, Torres tries too hard to make contact and ends up hitting a weak ground ball for an easy out. Believe it or not, there is a positive relationship between whiffs and quality of contact. Whiff rate and barrel rate have an R-squared metric of 0. This relationship could not be more apparent than in a player like Torres. If he focuses solely on hitting for power, without worrying about making contact, it should help him return to what he once was.

Putting It All Together. We all know what Gleyber Torres is capable of. He still has the talent to be one of the better shortstops in baseball. This is primarily an issue with his approach. Something changed between and and it has clearly not been for the better. Jeremy is currently a senior studying Computer Science and Statistics at the University of Pittsburgh. He is a writer and data science staffer here at Pitcher List.

His goal is to one day work in the analytics department of the front office of an MLB team. This may just not fit the smooth natural style he had as a prospect and during his first couple seasons. The other half is physical. I honestly think this change has either come from Torres himself or someone he works with personally.

Because it seems very anti-Yankee to tell him to sacrafice power to hit for contact. I wanted to make this more of an offense-based peice, but yeah his defense at SS has pretty much always been bad. For the most part, I agree with you, until LeMahieu came into the picture, or at least until they became a obscenely righty-heavy lineup. I do see a direct correlation in the timeline, and it may very well come from clubhouse chatter rather than Thames or the analytics dept.

They whiff or pass on pitches in the zone more often than any team I can remember in recent history. Please log in again.

The login page will open in a new tab. After logging in you can close it and return to this page. What is Wrong With Gleyber Torres? Both of which also mean that Chelsea do not rely as much on Torres as Liverpool once did. Liverpool used to be called a two-man team, such was the importance of Gerrard and Torres to Benitez's side. Chelsea, by contrast, have not been afforded such a label. If Torres doesn't perform at Chelsea, the simple and quick option is to throw on another match-winner in his place.

With the number of options available to Andre Villas-Boas, he can afford to drop an off-form Torres. The recent form of Drogba and the emergence of Sturridge have created a massive selection headache for the Chelsea manager when it comes to strike options. While Torres would have been afforded all the time in the world by his adoring Liverpool public, he doesn't enjoy the same elevated status with the trigger-happy Abramovich and the impatient Chelsea fans.

The last thing a misfiring striker needs is the bench. Just ask Andy Carroll, Torres' replacement at Liverpool. All the above factors combine and snowball into one giant avalanche of a lack of confidence for Fernando Torres. He hesitates on the turn. He takes a second too long in his build-up play.

He takes one touch too many. Spare a thought for the lad. He's become vilified at his old stomping ground, he's quickly being pushed to the sidelines at his new employers, and he's increasingly bandied about as one of the biggest transfer flops ever. Will Andre Villas-Boas be able to finally cure Torres of his ails, or will he have to resurrect his career at a new club?

Only time will tell, but Roman Abramovich's Chelsea is not particularly famous for giving people time. Enjoy our content? Join our newsletter to get the latest in sports news delivered straight to your inbox! Your sports. What is it about the Spanish striker that makes him such a unlikable figure? Sure, the hate he receives from Liverpool fans is understandable. He was their messiah, so to speak, and alongside Steven Gerrard was supposed to lead Liverpool to the promised land.

Things never quite panned out and took a big turn for the worst, and he jumped ship, rather than show loyalty to his team. But you'd think that everyone else would start getting behind the guy by now. Yes, he was awful last season, but he's shown a great amount of improvement in recent games.

In fact, in his last five games, Fernando Torres has scored four goals and assisted three. That's an excellent return from any striker in the world. Yet, journalists have chosen to focus on the negatives of each of Torres' performances over that stretch. The Wrong Playing Style Ex-Liverpool striker Michael Robinson is now one of Spain's most respected football pundits, and he believes the difference in style between Liverpool and Chelsea has hampered Torres badly.

Liverpool won the ball in their own half, and generally it was Gerrard's job, or whoever it was to play the ball into the space necessary for Fernando to exploit with his speed and finishing ability, in order to finish off the move.

Moving to Chelsea may not have been the best decision on a sporting and professional level due to the style of play there. Psychological Problems Robinson also thinks psychological issues will have played their part in the striker's downturn in form. I experienced something similar as a player. Conclusion It is hard to argue entirely against any of the suggestions made by the experts quoted, so is it possible that Torres's problem is a combination of all of the above?

Initially, the move to Chelsea was made difficult by the presence of star striker Didier Drogba, meaning Torres couldn't find the continuity he wanted, just as Benayoun suggested. On the rare occasions that he did get to play, he had to adapt to a new style that didn't suit him, as Robinson says, which was made almost impossible by the irregularity of his game time with the Blues.

The result?