Of the 13 players who received a qualifying medal this winter, four chose to accept it. There were two batsmen in that group: Trent Grisham again Gleyber Torres. Grisham was coming off the best year of his career with the Yankees, where he hit 34 home runs and posted a 129 wRC+ as his defense slumped. Meanwhile, Torres posted a 113 wRC+ for the Tigers in 2025 and earned his third All-Star selection, rebounding well from a difficult final year in New York. In the end, both chose to stay with their clubs, entering a $22.025MM salary cap for 2026 and setting themselves up for a return trip to free agency after the season.
Today, we’ll take a look at how Grisham and Torres performed in 2026 and whether they’ll live up to their worthy claims.
Yankees: Trent Grisham
Grisham was a below-average hitter from 2022-24, as he struggled to make enough contact or use his power. He continued to provide value as a middle infielder, earning 11 Defensive Runs Saved and 22 Outs Above Average in that three-year span. That makes Grisham’s performance in 2025 even more surprising. For the first time in a full season, he was an above-average hitter, while his defense went from being an asset to a liability (-11 DRS and -2 OAA). There were reasons to believe Grisham’s case would stick. After the stellar numbers, he posted career highs in average exit velocity (91.1 MPH) and strikeout rate (46.4%), in addition to slightly slowing down the strikeout. If he can repeat as an above-average hitter, he will be a center fielder in the game, even if his defense isn’t perfect.
An early return in 2026 has been difficult. Grisham’s .155/.297/.320 line through 118 plate appearances equates to a 79 wRC+ He walks a lot and strikes out less than 20% of the time, but his contact and power lag behind last year’s numbers. The Yankees aren’t sounding the alarm, though. As bad as that strikeout rate is, Grisham has also been incredibly unlucky. He is hitting just .151 on balls in play, more than 100 points below his career .259 mark. His expected batting average (.220) and expected slugging (.430) are also much higher than his actual numbers, so it’s possible that Grisham will improve as he gets more reps.
Despite his exit, the Yankees are also happy to continue in their field. Jason Dominguez He was good last year, although his defense is still a long-term mark. He started this year in the minors and returned for a few games before going on the injured list. Otherwise, the trio of Cody BellingerGrisham, once Aaron is the judge he was one of the top three players in the league last year, so it made sense to bring him back. The club is hoping for more from Grisham this year than he’s provided so far, but basic metrics point to at least a mediocre offense as the season progresses. All things considered, the 2026 version of Grisham could be a solid middle infielder, if not the force he was last year.
Tigers: Gleyber Torres
Torres improved his strikeout and walk rates from 2024 to 2025, while his power remained the same. The improvement brought his wRC+ from 105 to 113, making Torres one of the best hitting second basemen in the Majors. Defensively, Torres’ -4 DRS and -4 OAA at second base were in line with expectations, as he has always been a below-average player. His defense will be a big concern as he gets older, but a one-year, $15MM guaranteed contract, the Tigers can afford if you look at Torres’ value on offense.
The jump from $15MM to $22.025MM was not as large as Grisham’s salary increase (+$17.025MM) for the Yankees. From that lens, Torres was in a better position to provide value for the Tigers as long as he repeats last year’s results. So far in 2026, he’s been slightly above average, but down from his 2025 numbers. To his credit, Torres walks at a 17.6% clip and only strikes out 15.5% of the time. However, that has been reversed by the decline in power. His solo slugging percentage sits at .070, a significant drop from last year’s mark of .132. Torres is hitting at a .380 clip, which slows down the decline a bit, but he also doesn’t make enough contact to fully overcome it.
This performance is totally unexpected in the context of Torres’ second half numbers from 2025. After hitting over 40% better than average in May and June, he was roughly average in July (102 wRC+), then below average in August (94 wRC+) and September/October (82 wRC+). Torres was playing through pain and had sports hernia surgery in October, which partly explains the second-half slump. His average exit velocity dropped to 83.3 MPH in 2026, so it’s possible that Torres is still dealing with the effects of a disrupted season and will need a little more time to recover. For now, he’s in good enough form to stay above average, and the club will go back to the bank to build if he goes ahead with the surgery.
Photo courtesy of Vincent Carchietta, Imagn Images
