“He’s the star of this team,” right fielder Aaron Judge, 27, who is the face of the Yankees, said of Torres earlier this summer. “The future of this team.”

Torres’s ability to play shortstop, his primary position in the minor leagues, helped the Yankees weather the absence of Gregorius, who was recovering from elbow surgery. Torres then slid over to second base, where he played last season, when Gregorius returned in June. Although some advanced metrics rate Torres’s defense at both second base and shortstop as below average, Yankees coaches disagree with that assessment.

Torres showed off his defensive versatility in Sunday’s win when he shifted from second base to shortstop after Gregorius left the game with a bruised right shoulder after being hit with a pitch. Boone said after the game that X-rays on Gregorius’s shoulder were negative, and that the shortstop had sustained a bone bruise. That will likely lead to more time at shortstop for Torres.

Torres’s best trait, however, is his bat. And among his biggest refinements this season has been his ability to make good contact. He was swinging more this season but missing the ball less. Entering Sunday, his strikeout rate has fallen to about 20 percent — a five-percentage-point drop, the 10th largest improvement in the major leagues, since last year.

“There were a lot of situations where I got to two strikes and I worried a lot about not striking out, and I struck out,” Torres said in Spanish. “What I’m doing now is having fun, hitting and taking advantage of every pitch. I understand that strikeouts are part of the game and I try to minimize those things by seeing the ball and putting it in play.”

It has helped that Torres has a potent swing, has become an even more aggressive swinger early in at-bats and has been quick to adjust his plan at the plate when needed. Torres, who was a highly regarded prospect from a young age in his native Venezuela, has not sought out drastic changes in his approach, choosing instead to attack the margins of his game.