Detroit Tigers: Spencer Torkelson and the Erie 9 make history

The Detroit Tigers Double-A affiliate Erie SeaWolves had some history-making moments in their route of Altoona.

Any Detroit Tigers prospect fans know the names of Riley Greene and Spencer Torkelson as they are the nighly headliners lately over in Erie and rightfully so.

Last night, Greene (number one on our MCB Top 20 prospect board) and Torkelson (number 2) combined for 10 hits and five home runs. Torkelson went 7-for-7 with three home runs and drove in six while Greene went 3-for-8 with a pair of home runs and drove in five. Four of those five runs were powered by a grand slam. He became the 16th player in SeaWolves to hit two grand slams in a season.

In game two of the doubleheader, the SeaWolves hit three home runs in a row as Greene, Ryan Kreidler and Torkelson went deep in the 6-0 route.  Kreidler’s home run tied a record for most home runs by a Tigers minor league shortstop with 15.  Credit to Chris Brown for finding that nugget and discussing it on the podcast last weekend.

While Kreidler may not be a household name compared to Greene and Torkelson, he has made some waves this season because after just playing only in short-season ball in 2019.

In his last 20 games, he has put up his best offensive stretch of his season with a wRC+ of 103 and batting .313 (13-for-83) with six home runs and 21 RBI.

While his strikeout rate is at 30% for the season and does give a slight pause, you still have to be impressed with his recent last month of baseball as he continues to adjust to Double-A as his strikeout rate was 25.3% and his walk rate jumped up from 8.3% on the season to 9.5% in the last 20 games dating back to July 20ty.

He has made six errors over 717.2 innings of work and considering his size, which he stands at 6’4, he has been solid at short. The range is yet to be graded out but he does have sure hands to handle the position.