By Rob Rains
MEMPHIS – Bryan Torres won the batting title in the Texas League in 2024, when he also led the Double A league in on-base percentage. Moving up to Triple A Memphis last year, Torres again led that league in on-base percentage and finished third in the batting race.
So far this season Torres is leading the league again in getting on base and ranks among the league’s best hitters as the primary leadoff hitter for the Cardinals’ highest affiliate.
All of that is why, at times, Torres’ mind wanders – thinking about what he needs to do that he isn’t doing to show he deserves a chance to play in the major leagues?
As soon as those thoughts creep into his head, however, Torres tries to push them away.
“I’ve been for so long in this business I think one of the keys is to understand how this business works,” Torres said. “You have to control what you can control. Those are decisions I can’t make.
“All I control is to do my job and do what I know how to do every day.”
If Torres ever forgets that, all he has to do is look down at his right leg, at a tattoo, which in simple block letters reads, “I am who I am.”
So who is Torres?
“What I know how to do is get on base, control the zone pretty well and try to make a lot of contact,” Torres said.
Memphis manager Ben Johnson knows what Torres is as well, and what he has done for his team the last two seasons. What he also knows, like Torres, is that Torres is only a phone call away from making it to the major leagues. All he needs is an opportunity.
That’s what keeps Torres motivated.
“He’s doing everything we’ve asked of him, every single thing that we’ve asked him.” Johnson said. “We asked him to hit for more power and he’s done that. We asked him to steal more bases and he’s done that … He does a lot of things well. He can help you win.”
Getting to the point in his career where he has earned a spot on the Cardinals’ 40-man roster and put himself in position for a chance in the major leagues has not been easy.
It really took a two-year detour to independent ball before Torres’ thinks his career really began.
“My path has been a little longer, a little tougher”
It was nearly 11 years ago when Torres played his first game as a professional, for the Brewers’ team in the rookie Dominican Summer League. The native of Puerto Rico made his debut a month after his 18th birthday. Back then, he was a catcher. The reason for that was simple. When Torres went to a tryout camp, the Brewers’ scout asked if he could catch. Torres said, “sure.”
Like almost all players beginning to chase their dream of playing in the major leagues, Torres was a novice when it came to understanding the business of baseball.
“Mentally I was way different,” Torres said. “Back then I probably would have thought if you hit you should probably have a spot, but that’s not how it works.
“I say a lot of times, my road has been how it has to be because every part of it makes me the player I am today. I thank God for how everything has happened. My path has been a little longer, a little tougher, but at the same time I think I’ve got a different type of story. That’s what I try to share with all of these guys – that they have to be really strong mentally. Otherwise, you are not going to make it.”
Torres knows that, because he’s been on that road.
After playing in the Brewers system through 2019, Torres never advanced past rookie ball before he was claimed by the Giants in the minor-league portion of the Rule 5 draft. After the 2020 season was canceled because of Covid, Torres got a shot at Double A with the Giants in 2021 but played in only 43 games and became a minor-league free agent at the end of the season. He was 24.
When he couldn’t get a job in affiliated baseball, Torres thought about quitting but instead found an opportunity with an independent team, the Milwaukee Milkmen in the American Association. That’s when he became an infielder.
Torres looks back now at the two years he spent there as the beginning of his career.
“I had doubts, and at some point I thought I was going to retire. I thought I was done,” Torres said. “My mom and dad told me just to get a shot and an opportunity and try again. I took that shot.
“My career turned 360, from being a nobody to people starting to recognize my talent. It was really special for me.”
Torres, who plays second base and the outfield, hit .374 in 2022 for Milwaukee, leading the league, and followed up that season by posting a .370 average in 2023, again the best average in that league. The Cardinals noticed, and signed Torres as a minor-league free agent.
He has not stopped hitting since, leading the Texas League with a .331 average in 2024 to go along with a .419 on-base percentage.
Those numbers were just as good last year after he moved up to Memphis. He hit .328 and had a .441 on-base percentage.
So far this season, Torres has posted a .339 average while improving his on-base percentage to .452.
“The kid is locked in right now,” Johnson said. “He’s doing a lot of things right. He was locked in right from the start of spring training. He had a different look in his eye. You can see he is really focused. He wants it badly.”
It was during spring training when Johnson asked Torres to do something else for his team – to become a leader.
“I wanted to push him into more of a leadership space and he’s really taken to it,” Johnson said. “He’s becoming a voice in our hitter’s meetings and has become a voice in our game review meetings. I’m really proud of how he has grown in that area.”
Torres enjoys sharing his knowledge with younger players, because he knows his experience can help them with the mental side of the game, using the lessons he has learned over the years.
“This game is really, really mental,” Torres said. “If you are not strong enough mentally, you can easily get out of pro ball. A big part of it is controlling what you can control and knowing how the business works. If you know that I think mentally you are not going to be struggling and I know sometimes young guys struggle with it.”
One lesson that Torres has passed along is that just because a player is at Memphis, in the Cardinals organization, doesn’t mean an opportunity might not come along at the big-league level with another team.
“We don’t just play for the Cardinals,” he tells his teammates. “We play for 29 other organizatins too. If for some reason I can’t make it here, there are 29 other organizations. I just have to do my job day by day and stay focused. I can make it somewhere.”
What would that moment be like for Torres, if he does get the call that every player wants to get?
He takes a moment to answer.
“I’m thankful I didn’t quit,” he said. “It’s been a lot of years, it’s been a lot of work. I’ve gotten a lot of no’s and had a lot of X’s marked by my name. It’s going to be good for me and my family. It would be really special. But I don’t just want to make it, you want to stay there for a long time. That’s the mentality.
“I know I’m 28. My time, I’m not going to say it’s late but it’s not early, but again I can’t control those decisions. To me it doesn’t matter if you are 40 if you put up the numbers you are still deserving of being there.”
Johnson believes Torres is deserving. He just needs something to happen to open that door.
“If an opportunity comes up you would like to think he has put himself in a position where he can get that phone call,” Johnson said. “For a 28-year-old, he is a young 28. When you see how his body moves and how he takes care of himself, I can easily see him playing another 10 years at a high clip. He’s just getting better.”
Follow Rob Rains on X @RobRains
Photos courtesy of Memphis Redbirds
