HOUSTON — Dan O’Dowd loves DJ LeMahieu. As general manager of the Rockies, O’Dowd traded for LeMahieu. Watched him become a batting champion and Gold Glover. Admired his professionalism.

One day just beyond midseason on the MLB Network set — recognizing I was preaching to the choir — I was extolling LeMahieu to O’Dowd, wondering how anyone could be more valuable amid all the Yankees injuries than someone as durable, versatile and productive as LeMahieu.

O’Dowd patiently let me prattle and then said, “all of that is true. But, you know, Gleyber Torres is the best hitter on the team.”

At that moment, LeMahieu was leading the majors in hitting, but O’Dowd lauded Torres’ precocious balance, confidence, ever-burgeoning power and bat-to-ball excellence. By the way that was no knock on LeMahieu, who — once more — O’Dowd loves. Just recognition of the growing lethality of Torres’ bat.

This October is proving confirmatory.

LeMahieu has been as consistently brilliant as ever. But Torres just might be the best hitter not only on the Yankees, but in the playoffs. When we exchanged texts Sunday, O’Dowd called Torres “a generational player.”

I think also transformational. For it took a philosophical sea change by the Yankees in July 2016 to trade Aroldis Chapman and Andrew Miller and steer away from the George Steinbrenner no-surrender doctrine to see a bigger picture. And that bigger picture has come into fuller focus. James Paxton was starting Game 2 on Sunday night for the Yankees, having been acquired last offseason namely for Justus Sheffield, a key piece in the trade of Miller to the Indians.

And for the second straight ALCS game, Torres was appropriately hitting third, acknowledging his rise from key return for Chapman to No. 3 hitter. The Yankees could have had Torres, Ian Happ or Eloy Jimenez as the centerpiece to that deal. They picked wisely.

“During last year and this year I hit in every position,” Torres said. “Really, I think I feel comfortable. It’s so great to play with the Yankees and I get the opportunity to play every day. So for me I’m just focused, each position I just try to help and make opportunities for me and to try to help my team.”

Though he had played just four postseason games this October — and other players as many as eight — Torres’ nine RBIs were two more than anyone else heading into Sunday’s ALCS Game 2. He has driven in at least one run in every game and five in the Yankees’ 7-0 blanking of the Astros in Saturday’s opener at Minute Maid Park. In the 2017 ALCS, the Yanks lost all four games in Houston managing a total of three runs. That team did not yet have Torres in the majors.

In the two seasons he has been a major leaguer, Torres has twice been an All-Star. This year his value was elevated as he played a quality shortstop, helping the Yankees thrive even while Didi Gregorius missed the first two-plus months after Tommy John surgery and rested more regularly upon his return. He hit 38 homers this year, the most by a player exclusively a middle infielder, and has two more among six extra-base hits in a postseason in which he was 4-for-6 with runners in scoring position entering Sunday. He is just 22.

“To me it is a bit amazing because he is a Yankee and plays in New York, but he goes a little under the radar nationally,” a scout who covers the Yankees said. “To me he stands with whomever else you say is a special young middle infielder — [Carlos] Correa, [Francisco] Lindor, [Javier] Baez. He is in that group. The hit tool is elite.”

He reminds me of a righty version of Robinson Cano, who broke in with the Yankees in 2005 at 22; just Torres has come to high-end power sooner. They both quickly demonstrated tremendous hands combined with a calm, confident air for such a young age. Like Cano, Torres is thick in his bottom half and will have to persistently be on top of his conditioning, especially if he is to play shortstop regularly if Gregorius does not return as a free agent. With the bat, though, there are few worries.

“Smart. Confident. And when you have talent that’s a really good combination,” Aaron Boone said. “He’s always had that since he’s come to the big leagues and he just plays the game with kind of a free and easy way and a confidence about his game. And I think the intelligence part is big because it’s allowed him to continue to grow and get better at all of the little things. He comes into the game prepared. He likes playing in these situations and he’s confident in his ability to produce. And that leads to a dangerous player.”