Gleyber Torres is on his way to full health.
Torres – the Detroit Tigers’ second baseman who becomes a free agent after the World Series ends – underwent surgery Friday, Oct. 31, for a hernia on his left side. He is expected to be cleared for baseball activities in four weeks.
Dr. William Meyers performed the surgery in West Palm Beach, Florida.
The 28-year-old is set to enter free agency after completing a one-year, $15 million contract, though he could accept the one-year qualifying offer worth $22.03 million, but only if the Tigers extend it within five days of the World Series ending. He has interest in returning to the Tigers, but he also hopes to land a long-term deal as the top second baseman available on the market.
As for the hernia, Torres played through the injury during the final month of games, including September in the regular season and October in the postseason.
It’s unclear when or how the injury happened.
“We did whatever we could do in the moment to keep me playing every day,” Torres said Oct. 10, after the Tigers were eliminated from the postseason in Game 5 of the ALDS. “It was not easy, but I can play with pain, so it was no big deal.”
The Tigers and Torres communicated about the injury, with medical staffers and trainers providing support.
It was a group effort to keep playing.
“Gleyber was upfront and honest about reporting that to us,” president of baseball operations Scott Harris said Oct. 13. “We felt like he still was capable of being a solid addition to our team. We wish he wasn’t banged up in the second half, but we thought he was still a big part of our team, even though he was banged up.”
In 2025, Torres hit .256 with 16 home runs, 85 walks and 101 strikeouts across 145 games. He led the Tigers with a 13.5% walk rate and a 16.1% strikeout rate. His walk rate ranked in the 95th percentile among MLB players.
He also became an All-Star for the third time in his eight-year MLB career.
“We added Gleyber to this team because we forecasted some approach and contact challenges with this group,” Harris said. “Nobody has a better approach than Gleyber Torres, and nobody has better bat-to-ball skills than Gleyber Torres. His addition to this team, in many ways, powered a lot of the offensive performance.”
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The injury affected Torres’ performance.
He hit .281 with an .812 OPS in 84 games in the first half, then dropped to .223 with a .659 OPS in 61 games in the second half. His worst month came in September, when he played through the injury and hit just .209 with a .631 OPS.
The Tigers couldn’t take him out of the lineup down the stretch, as they collapsed in the American League Central and didn’t clinch a spot in the postseason until the second-to-last game.
“How do you think we would’ve all responded if I just gave Gleyber Torres a random day off in September, when we went 7-17?” manager A.J. Hinch said Oct. 13. “He would not have had it. That dude would’ve been right in my office asking me what the hell is wrong with me. It was an area of concern for us physically as we were asking so much out of our guys.”
Both Harris and Hinch revealed that Torres wasn’t the only player who competed through an injury, with Harris noting that those injuries – including Torres’ hernia – didn’t meet the threshold to be included on the Tigers’ twice-weekly injury report.
The Tigers defeated the Cleveland Guardians in the AL wild-card series, then lost to the Seattle Mariners in the ALDS.
“It relates to this topic – September, I think, really did impact us physically, emotionally and mentally,” Hinch said. “I’m proud of how we fought through things, some that now are known and some that still not known because of the nature of what we had to do the last 30-40 games.”
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers’ Gleyber Torres undergoes hernia surgery before free agency
Reporting by Evan Petzold, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
