Detroit Tigers: Spencer Torkelson coming back with a vengeance

Detroit Tigers first baseman Spencer Torkelson returns with a chip on his shoulder.

The Detroit Tigers opted to push the reset button on one of their former top prospects. Spencer Torkelson was sent down to the minors before the all-star break and did not make his re-appearance in the big leagues until September.

The Detroit Tigers felt their former first overall pick needed a bit of a reset. Given his stats on the year, sending him down felt like the best option. After some time in the minors and big league rosters expanding, the Tigers felt it was time to call him back up.

While his performance in the minors was not overly promising, he has been able to kick things into gear in his return. He has stepped back into the Tigers lineup and has been seeing the ball real well since returning to the big league lineup.

Torkelson is someone that the Tigers are investing their future in. The hope remains that he can be an anchor in the team’s lineup for years to come. After a rough start to 2022, his performance as of late has been much better.

He was sent down to the minors after a sub .200 batting average plagued his performance. Whether he was struggling or not, there’s not a world where Torkelson was excited to be sent down. He wanted to prove himself as a big-leaguer, but it did not work out.

But after being called back up, he has returned with a bit of a chip on his shoulder. It’s been a return with some vengeance from Torkelson, who has kicked his performance in the batters’ box into high gear.

Detroit Tigers youngster Spencer Torkelson is trying to right the ship.

At the time of his demotion to Triple-A, Torkelson was slashing .197/.282/.296 with 11 doubles, five home runs, and 76 punchouts over 298 plate appearances. Certainly not what the Tigers were hoping for out of their best prospect.

Since returning, things have been working out in his favor. Torkelson has been mashing. He’s logged 29 plate appearances where he has slashed .333/.448/.553 with three extra-base hits, including a mammoth home run, with two RBI.

He has only been punched out five times since returning. It feels like Torkelson’s time in the minors might have been a nice reset for him. But he’s got to be looking to turn some heads as the season ends.

Torkelson needs to finish out the 2022 season on a positive note. The solid start in his return is a good thing, but the end goal has to be to keep driving his overall season numbers up. After his demotion, the slash line above was his season totals, but after his hot start, they have started to climb in the right direction.

Now, on the season, Torkelson has slashed .208/.297/.319, which is a slight improvement from where he was. While it’s hard to turn a sub-.200 average on its head. There’s still a chance for him to finish strong and start moving in the right direction.