Speaking with reporters outside the Cardinals clubhouse the day after Springfield’s 4-1 win over Arkansas in Game 1 of the Texas League North Division Series, Bryan Torres humbly recited platitudes when he was prodded to boast about his league-best .331 batting average.
Photo courtesy of PJ Maigi | Springfield Cardinals
The 2024 Texas League batting crown is Torres’ third in a row – he led the American Association in 2022 and 2023 with the Milwaukee Milkmen – and the veteran minor leaguer long-ago mastered fictional Bull Durham catcher Crash Davis’ talent for modesty with the media.
But then someone asked Torres what he thought about outfielder Chase Davis, the Cards’ No. 1 pick in the 2023 MLB Draft recently promoted to Double-A, and Torres’ eyes lit up like the question was a hanging curveball.
“Hey man, I’ll tell you this, that’s one of the best talents I’ve ever seen in baseball,” Torres gushed. “Great arm, he can run, he can field, he can hit, he can hit for power: five tools right there I’ve told you. So, he’s young, he’s still young, but he’s going to be so good. That guy is going to be so good.”
“I’ll give him not many years (before you) see him in the show,” he said.
And Torres – with nearly 2,800 plate appearances over a decade-long career that’s included stints on Puerto Rico’s national team – has witnessed plenty of talent. He had a good view of Davis’ RBI-single in the second inning that opened the scoring on Wednesday night and admired the towering 400-foot plus homer that finally gave the Cardinals breathing room.
Springfield left 11 runners in scoring position but starting pitcher Brandon Komar authored a gritty outing, and the Cards clung to a 2-1 lead when former Springfield reliever Logan Gragg came on for Arkansas to face Davis leading off the eighth inning.
Chase Davis OBLITERATES this one An absolute TANK for his first playoff BOMB. pic.twitter.com/azTc7R3PGo
— Springfield Cardinals (@Sgf_Cardinals) September 18, 2024
“It was an 0-2 changeup down the middle, I was thinking all night they would come out of the zone, but he left that one up, I put a good swing on it,” Davis said.
The ball soared off Chase’s bat and over the right field façade at Dickey-Stevens Park, apropos of the lefty slugger’s rise through the Cardinals minor league system in 2024, something he attributes to focusing on the moment at hand.
“Just being where my feet are at, getting better every day and exceling, and being present – introducing myself to the guys and getting close to them as well,” he said.
“I have so much fun in the locker room – these guys are unbelievable, always a smile on my face, always laughing and joking. I would say it’s serious a little bit of the time and joking a lot, but that seriousness is in between the white lines and that’s how it should be.”
The moment at hand now for Springfield is chasing the club’s second Texas League championship.
Kolten Wong, Oscar Martinez, and Oscar Tavaras celebrated Springfield’s lone title in 2012, a time when the organization was enjoying success at the Major League level too, and the Cardinal-Way preached winning high-leverage games in the minor leagues.
Manager Jose Leger says that culture has been present in Springfield’s clubhouse this season.
“There’s no development now, we’re into it to win it. These guys want it, but they’ve been wanting it since the beginning. All the initial meetings, individual meetings, it was a common theme from them when they came into the office saying hey, ‘I want to win’, ‘I want to win’, ‘I want to win’. So, I heard that from many players, that tells you about their mentality coming in – combining that with the everyday comradery – they just became winners…it’s been fun watching them,” he said.
First pitch for Game 2 of the Division Series at Hammons Field is 6:35 p.m. Thursday, with Game 3 on Friday if necessary. The Texas League Championship series is scheduled to begin on Sunday.
