First baseman offers glimmer of hope for dreadful Tigers
Little has gone right for the Detroit Tigers to start the season. The team is 2-7, offensive struggles from 2022 have carried over, top prospects are far away from the bigs and the schedule doesn’t get easier.
One of the few bright spots is first baseman Spencer Torkelson, the No. 1 overall pick from the 2020 MLB Draft.
In 2022, Torkelson had a disastrous rookie year, compiling a .203/.285/.604 slash line. This year’s slash line is almost identical, but there's reason to be hopeful.
Per Baseball Savant, Torkelson's average exit velocity of 91.4 mph is up from 90.5 mph last year. His hard-hit rate of 50 percent is also up from last year's figure (41.8%). The sample size is small, but the trend is positive.
The marks haven’t led to a dramatic jump in stats yet, but history shows that should happen soon. Hard-hit rate and average velocity tend to correlate to success, so a player posting strong numbers there but not seeing statistical correlation is usually the victim of bad luck. Some of those hard hits for Torkelson should start falling for hits.
Torkelson’s stats were also brought down by a three-game slow start against the Tampa Bay Rays (10-0) to open the season. Since then, he has a hit in four of six games.
Torkelson's improved exit velocity and hitting trends were noticed by The Athletic. “Torkelson has looked noticeably more comfortable and more athletic at the plate, a sign the 2020 No. 1 overall pick is trending in the right direction,” the publication wrote.
Torkelson has posted a poor walk rate so far this year but has had a good eye throughout his career, so there is no reason to think that is anything other than a small sample size.
Against the Astros last week, Torkelson fell a triple shy of hitting for the cycle and earned the praise of his manager, A.J. Hinch.
“He’s hit the ball as hard as any player on our team in the first five games,” Hinch told MLB.com. “He’s developing nicely.”
Now if only the rest of the team followed his lead.
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