Could Torkelson put it all together in 2023?
This story was excerpted from Jason Beck’s Tigers Beat e-newsletter. To learn the complete e-newsletter, click on right here. And subscribe to get it often in your inbox.
While Tigers supervisor A.J. Hinch, Matthew Boyd, Eric Haase and Matt Manning have been assembly with reporters at Comerica Park final week as a part of a miniature model of their outdated Winter Caravan, Spencer Torkelson was assembly with new Tigers hitting coaches Michael Brdar and Keith Beauregard close to Torkelson’s house in Arizona.
It wasn’t an intervention in the direction of a swing change, Hinch mentioned, extra of a get-to-you-know assembly to attach the slugging first baseman with the coaches who shall be tasked with unlocking Torkelson’s energy potential on the huge league stage, following a rookie season during which he slugged beneath the common of a crew that completed next-to-last within the league in slugging proportion.
“This isn’t a remake or a rebuild of a swing,” Hinch mentioned. “It’s a young player who came up to the big leagues and got his eyes opened to the competition level up here.”
Barring harm or one thing unexpected in these waning days earlier than Spring Training, Torkelson will get each alternative to point out whether or not he’s prepared to interrupt out.
The Tigers have made no secret that they wish to use the at-bats and innings they opened up with their offseason strikes to fit in and consider their youthful gamers. Hinch and president of baseball operations Scott Harris want to determine who may match long-term, the place the group has depth and the place it wants assist.
Arguably no Tiger is as necessary to guage as Torkelson; the 2020 No. 1 general Draft decide is essential to Detroit’s plans for constructing a lineup. Given Detroit’s desire for positional versatility, including one other first baseman this offseason was by no means a practical choice, however needing to unravel the Torkelson thriller bolstered the purpose.
“We have other options if we need to,” Hinch mentioned, “however clearly our greatest crew has Spencer Torkelson as a significant contributor. And we’re trying ahead to seeing what changes we have been capable of tweak just a little bit, the brand new relationship with the hitting division. It’ll be good to get his suggestions on the yr, to clearly let him decompress from a really annoying season final yr.
“We want him to be a big contributor, because he’s a really good player.”
It’s not a vote of confidence, Hinch insisted. Bringing Torkelson again from Triple-A Toledo final September and taking part in him almost daily — he was the beginning first baseman for 26 of Detroit’s ultimate 31 video games — was the vote of confidence. Torkelson did sufficient with these at-bats to supply hints that he’s figuring some issues out about himself and the way pitchers strategy him.
Statistically, Torkelson’s .219 common and .678 OPS for the season’s ultimate month are slight enhancements on his .203 common and .604 OPS for the season. His two-homer doubleheader in Seattle on the penultimate day of the common season gave him three homers for the month to go along with 5 doubles and a triple, producing a .385 slugging proportion that was his better of any month.
Statcast exhibits the place most of his harm got here from. Two homers and 4 doubles got here off fastballs, a pitch that troubled him for many of the first half till his demotion to Toledo on the All-Star break.
Torkelson hit .264 (14-for-53) with a .453 slugging proportion and a 94.8 mph common exit velocity in opposition to fastballs from Sept. 1 on, his second-best month in opposition to fastballs behind solely April. Unlike April, Torkelson had a bigger pattern dimension in opposition to fastballs in September/October (46 batted-ball occasions, in comparison with 18 in April). His swing-and-miss fee off fastballs was additionally decrease in September (16.1 %) than in April (25).
“We brought him up and played him every day,” Hinch mentioned, “and he earned that by getting the ball to the pull side in the air a little bit, having more competitive at-bats in the strike zone. His overall confidence grew, and that led us to having a ton of confidence in where he was leaving last season into a busy offseason for him.”
Torkelson however completed as one in every of baseball’s least efficient hitters in opposition to fastballs based on Statcast, with a negative-8 Run Value that positioned him 241st out of 264 Major League hitters with no less than 100 plate appearances (teammates Miguel Cabrera and Jonathan Schoop have been really decrease). And Torkelson’s adjustment to fastballs in September value him some swings and misses in opposition to breaking balls (37.1 % whiff fee) and offspeed pitches (39.3 %).
Still, Torkelson’s September work helped him end within the prime quarter of hitters for common exit velocity and the highest half for hard-hit and barrel charges. His 82.1 % contact fee on pitches within the strike zone primarily matched the 82.0 % common for Major League hitters. It additionally matched his observe document as a professional for being a sluggish starter at every stage earlier than making changes.
The Tigers want to determine if Torkelson can carry that ahead into the center of the season. He’ll get the possibility to point out them.
