Lenny Torres, a 2018 Beacon High School grad, on Sunday (May 9) returned to professional baseball two years after he underwent Tommy John surgery on his pitching arm. He was ready to return a year ago but the Minor League Baseball season was canceled because of the pandemic shutdown.
Torres, 20, was drafted by the Cleveland Indians as the 41st pick of the 2018 draft. He initially played in the Rookie League in Arizona and on April 29 was assigned by the Indians to the Lynchburg Hillcats in Virginia, which is a step below the level of the Hudson Valley Renegades.
He pitched two innings for the Hillcats in an 8-4 win over the Fredericksburg Nationals, giving up three runs on a single, a double, two walks and a hit batter in the first inning but striking out two and holding the Nationals scoreless in the second.
He has a 3.12 career ERA in seven career games, with six saves and 24 strikeouts in 17.1 innings.
Elijah Hughes, 23, of Beacon, scored six points on two-of-three shooting from three-point range during the last six minutes of a Utah Jazz blowout victory on May 5 over the San Antonio Spurs. He also had an assist. Hughes, a rookie who was drafted out of Syracuse, plays sparingly for the Jazz, which has the best record in the Western Conference. In 18 appearances through Wednesday, he is averaging 1.7 points per game.
He also spent time with the Salt Lake City Stars in the NBA’s developmental league earlier this year while recovering from an ankle sprain.
At a news conference on March 29, Hughes said he isn’t upset with his playing time, given that he is a member of one of the NBA’s best teams. “It’s a learning process that everybody goes through during their rookie year,” he said, noting that veteran players have been telling him how important it is to “take care of your body. It’s a long season. I’ve been surprised by the travel, how much that can get to you going from time zone to time zone.”
