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How Tigers' fallen star, late-blooming No. 1 picks got Detroit roaring atop AL
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- How Tigers' fallen star, late-blooming No. 1 picks got Detroit roaring atop AL
BALTIMORE – They have been machinelike for nearly 120 games, spanning two seasons, and now sport the best record in the American League. Yet peel back a layer from the Detroit Tigers , and the players responsible for that excellence aren't far removed from the pitfalls of the sport.
Perhaps it was the extra baggage No. 1 overall picks carry, a weight Spencer Torkelson admits delayed his eventual rise to feared slugger. Or the isolation one can feel as a flailing superstar with a $140 million contract on a struggling team, like Javy Baez endured for most of three seasons.
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Not even the greatest Tiger of all, peerless left-hander Tarik Skubal , is immune, undergoing Tommy John surgery at his no-name college, climbing to the big leagues only to suffer a flexor tendon injury that wiped out nearly a full season of his prime.
Yet look at them now.
Spencer Torkelson rounds the bases after hitting a home run against the Cubs.
The Tigers are 44-25, a start so dominant that the last Detroit club to break so strongly reached the 2006 World Series. They are a curious mix of largely twentysomething talent, versatile and fungible youngsters and the occasional veteran like World Series champion Báez – all willing to play anywhere or bat in whatever position, so long as everything they have is for the team.
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"All things that it takes to have a lot of sustained success is definitely shining," Torkelson, their first baseman possibly headed to his first All-Star Game, tells USA TODAY Sports, "and having guys that have been at the bottom, been at the top, like Javy, it's such a cool perspective.
"That's baseball. That's sports. It's not going to be amazing every single day, every single year. You're going to battle through it.
"For me, that's what's so rewarding about it. You've seen the worst and when you do have success, it makes it that much sweeter."
The franchise itself can relate. A 114-loss 2019 was the nadir during seven consecutive losing seasons, a stretch of futility that netted it the top overall pick in two drafts. It wasn't until this spring that those two No. 1 overall picks, Torkelson and right-hander Casey Mize , found concurrent success.
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"This is definitely a game of failure," says Riley Greene , the Tigers' All-Star outfielder. "They worked on the things they needed to work on and they're crushing now. Some people don't get it right away and others do; but that's the ups and downs of baseball.
"They had stuff to work on, and they took it and ran with it. And now look at 'em."
'I wanted to make everyone happy'
For Torkelson, the unkindest cut of all came when he least expected it. After spending all of 2023 in Detroit, the Tigers shipped him to Class AAA Toledo on June 3, 2024. He was toting a .201/.266/.330 slash line, with just four homers and 56 strikeouts in 230 plate appearances.
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It would have been humbling for any player who fancied himself a big league regular. But carrying that first overall pick designation – a tag no one ever forgets – only added to the weight.
So Torkelson, still just 25 even as he's five years removed from the Tigers taking him No. 1 out of Arizona State, learned to leave all that behind.
"A lot of it was eliminating expectations. As a people pleaser, I wanted to make everyone happy," says Torkelson. "As a No. 1 pick, you want to live up to what everyone's writing about you rather than take a step back and be like, 'Wait, what got me selected No. 1?' My God-given ability and work ethic got me selected. So why not trust that – which is a lot easier said than done.
"Really going back to the basics and doing it not for anyone else but my own pleasure."
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The mindset paid off. Torkelson earned an August recall to Detroit and produced a .781 OPS over the final two months, compared to .597 before his demotion. He's continued the trend this season, his 16 home runs tops among AL first basemen.
He also leads the majors with 10 two-strike home runs, possibly a testament to his adjusted mindset.
"Baseball or golf, it's like, staying out of your own way is probably the biggest key to success for guys," says Torkelson. "The goal is to stay as present as possible. As a baseball player, your mind is always looking forward. You get a hit, now you're 3 for 4. You get another home run, now you've got 17. Your mind is always trying to look into the future, which it is supposed to do.
"But that's not how you maintain in a sport. It's taking a step back and seeing how you attack this pitch. Sometimes you catch yourself and you get yourself back to present."
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Says manager A.J. Hinch: "The way he bounces back from tough at-bats – he's pretty resilient."
Javier Báez signed a $140 million deal with the Tigers before the 2022 season.
A star embraces versatility
Torkelson's recall, combined with a trade-deadline makeover and Hinch unleashing the Tigers' "pitching chaos" plan awakened a franchise. The Tigers finished 33-16, snagged a wild-card spot and upset the Houston Astros in the wild-card round before losing a wild five-game AL Division Series to Cleveland .
And Báez wasn't around for almost all of it.
He and the Tigers decided he'd undergo season-ending hip surgery after an August series at Wrigley Field, site of Báez's greatest triumphs as a member of the 2016 World Series champion Chicago Cubs .
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With the Tigers, he'd been more a liability, producing a .221 OBP and 71 adjusted OPS in his first three seasons. Repairing his hip might have been the unkindest cut at the time, but now he and the Tigers are reaping the rewards.
Báez returned healthy and with a new identity – the do-anything super utilityman. Báez hadn't played center field since winter ball in 2015 until Hinch tossed him out there as a late-game defensive replacement.
He ended up playing 23 consecutive games in center, robbing home runs, chasing balls into the gap and, in that span, slugging six home runs with an .898 OPS. With center fielder Parker Meadows ' return, Báez is more often back at his natural shortstop.
Either way, he has been remarkably valuable, producing four outs above average and 1.3 WAR, putting him on pace for his finest season as a Tiger.
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"A guy like Javy, who's been the center part of a lot of teams he's been on, can just be one of the guys," Hinch says of Báez, who made two All-Star teams and won a Gold Glove and Silver Slugger as a Cub. "He doesn't have to carry us; we have a true team and a lot of guys who can do it. But when he adds something to the mix, we usually win.
"He's a big part of what we're doing and I think he's one of the best, versatile players in the league."
Báez's production fused with the young core was the outcome he envisioned when he signed with the Tigers, the last major transaction of former GM Al Avila's tenure.
"Everything is getting better as a team, as an organization. The only difference for me is being healthy," says Báez, whose deal runs through 2027. "I'm playing better for myself and playing better for the team.
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"That was one of the reasons I came here: I saw the other prospects coming here and would make a good team in the future. The future is now – we're doing it right now."
Báez might have been envisioned as a franchise hub, but he's probably serving as a better avatar for the young players in his current role – versatile, willing to trot out to any position, starter or reserve, always ready.
"He's unbelievable. He's one of the best athletes, baseball players, that I've got to see live," says Torkelson. "You stick him in center field, he'd probably win a Gold Glove out there. He's such a great athlete and special to see every day.
"He's willing to do whatever. And he's so comfortable in whatever situation he's in – he's never sped up. He's always cool, calm and collected, something we aspire to do every game."
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'A complete team'
As the season unfolds, the Tigers will have to accept their new lot in life – that of division favorites. They hold a seven-game lead in the AL Central, and with the rampant inconsistency in the AL West, would be a fair bet to earn a first-round bye should they hold onto the division.
Promising right-hander Jackson Jobe has been lost to Tommy John surgery , a big blow for his development, yet one the Tigers can weather given their depth with Skubal, Jack Flaherty and Mize out front of the rotation. Mize, the No. 1 overall pick in 2018, already weathered that storm undergoing Tommy John and also back surgery, a double whammy that wiped out his 2023 season.
"We have Tarik leading us at the top. He's the best pitcher in the league," says Mize, who has a 2.95 ERA in 11 starts. "And we have some depth we really like and bullpen guys we really like.
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"A complete team."
One that's on the verge of what could be an unforgettable summer, the promise of greatness tempered by the humility that helped them reach this threshold.
"What got us to this point is taking it day by day, being there for each other and enjoying the ride," says Torkelson.
"It's not going to be perfect. But it's going to be a lot of fun."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Tigers roar to top of MLB standings behind late bloomers, ace Skubal
