Tigers send 2020 No. 1 pick Spencer Torkelson back to minors

Spencer Torkelson's rookie season hasn't gone as planned and now the Detroit Tigers are sending the 2020 No. 1 pick back to the minor leagues. On Sunday, the Tigers announced that Torkelson was optioned to Triple-A Toledo.

Torkelson, 22, made the team's Opening Day roster and was held hitless through his first four games before recording six hits and two home runs over a five-game span. But after 83 games, the rookie first baseman is batting .197 with a .282 on base percentage, .296 slugging percentage, five home runs, 21 RBI and 76 strikeouts.

"We have a plan in place to get him some at-bats and get him back to being the offensive force that we know he's gonna be," Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said of the demotion, via The Athletic. "It's much less spotlight to do it in Triple-A than it is to continue to do this in the big leagues.

"I told [Torkelson] it could be 10 days, it could be two weeks, could be a month. It doesn't matter how long it takes to get him back to feeling good."

During his 2021 season in the minors, Torkelson batted .267 in 121 games with a .552 slugging percentage, 30 home runs and 91 RBI.

The Tigers are 37-55 this season and are 12.5 games behind the Minnesota Twins in the AL Central. Detroit is last in MLB in runs scored this season with an average of 3.13 per game.