How Much Longer Should the Tigers Stick With Spencer Torkelson?

Do you remember being smack dab in the middle of COVID?

It was 2020. NCAA March Madness and the basketball season had come to an abrupt end. Baseball’s Opening Day kept getting pushed further and further back. People were forced inside everywhere and looked down upon if they were seen anywhere near another person. Elementary school kids were told to learn by staring at a computer instead of being in a classroom.

It was one of the oddest times in many people’s lives.

But even during that strange stretch in the world, MLB still held its annual draft. That’s where the Tigers selected first baseman Spencer Torkelson — who was actually drafted as a third baseman, though that experiment did not last long — with the first overall pick.

Torkelson was viewed as a can’t-miss bat. A kid with great bat speed and incredible power every time he squared up a baseball. Adam Dykstra of MLB.com once wrote, “It’s official. The Arizona State slugger got this spot because of his prodigious power.” The potential was there, and the future looked bright.

Torkelson endured a very difficult rookie season as he battled through the growing pains of becoming a big leaguer.

However, in his second season, Torkelson showed the city of Detroit — and the rest of baseball — exactly what scouts were talking about when they raved about his swing. He finished the year with 31 home runs, which still remains tied for the most in his career.

There were still clear weaknesses in his game. His .233 batting average left plenty to be desired, but the power absolutely jumped off the page. Along with those 31 home runs, he added 34 doubles and 141 hits. Unfortunately, he also struck out 171 times, another number that still stands as a career high. The power was undeniable, but so were the swing-and-miss concerns.

Then came Year 3.

Instead of taking an even bigger leap forward like many predicted, Torkelson regressed badly. In fact, he struggled so much that the Tigers eventually sent him back down to the minors before later recalling him. Oddly enough, that move appeared to help. When Torkelson returned to Detroit, he looked refreshed and played with a noticeable edge.

That mentality carried into last season. While he still struggled with strikeouts and making consistent contact, he finished with the best batting average of his career at .240 while once again tying his career high with 31 home runs. He added 27 doubles and 135 hits, both second-best marks of his career, but still struck out 169 times.

And to defend him a little bit, some of those strikeouts came on some of the worst called third strikes imaginable. So much so that MLB eventually implemented the ABS challenge system, partly because of the growing frustration around missed calls across the league.

Then came this season.

Early in the year, there was plenty of talk surrounding an adjustment to Torkelson’s swing. The idea was to get him positioned closer to the ball in the batter’s box, theoretically helping him make more consistent contact.

Unfortunately, that experiment has turned into a catastrophic failure.

On the season, Torkelson is hitting just .198 with seven home runs. At first glance, seven home runs may not sound terrible, and honestly, it isn’t. But context matters.

Five of those seven home runs came during one scorching week, and three of those came in hitter-friendly Cincinnati . If you remove that stretch where Torkelson looked like he was drinking “Michael’s Secret Stuff,” the numbers become brutal.

Outside of that hot streak, Torkelson is hitting just .135 with two home runs, 14 RBIs, 24 walks, and 61 strikeouts.

Currently, Torkelson ranks 23rd out of 25 qualified first basemen with a .682 OPS.

Time and time again, Torkelson steps to the plate with the Tigers desperately needing a spark — whether from the team as a whole or from Torkelson individually — and time and time again, the moment seems to swallow him.

In fact, let’s look at just how unclutch he has been this season. With the bases loaded, when Detroit needs him most, Torkelson owns a .089 batting average with zero home runs.

So where did the bat go?

Did his confidence disappear along with his old swing? Has the pressure of being the No. 1 overall pick finally become too much to overcome in Detroit?

At some point, the Tigers have to ask themselves a difficult question: how much longer can they continue waiting for the breakout everyone keeps expecting?

Because if Torkelson is ever going to become the player people once believed he could be, one thing is starting to feel more and more inevitable — a new team, a new city, and a complete change of scenery may be exactly what reignites the spark that once burned so brightly.