It might be time to issue apology to Tigers' Spencer Torkelson after shocking revival

Spencer Torkelson has been the Tigers' best hitter by almost every metric through their first 19 games. He's leading the Tigers in homers with six, extra base hits with six, RBI with 16, slugging with .629, and OPS with 1.010. He's still striking out in almost 1/3 of his at-bats, but he's also already walking a lot more than he did last season.

It's hard to overstate exactly how shocking this turnaround has been. Fans (and, to be clear, we are not free of fault here) were calling for Torkelson's head at the end of last season given his over two-month demotion and still-only-decent performance after he was called back up.

Talk from the offseason also didn't make his future with the organization look bright; Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press wrote early on that the mood was that the Tigers were prepared to part ways with him.

But he stayed, and even made the Tigers' Opening Day roster as their cleanup hitter. He was quick to make a statement against the Dodgers, with a basically flawless day at the plate — four walks and one homer in five plate appearances.

Given all of the vitriol leveled at Tork last season, it might be time to offer an official apology.

Spencer Torkelson's stunning turnaround has Tigers fans eating their words

This early success has already led Torkelson to becoming an everyday fixture of the lineup once again, when just a few weeks prior, it looked like the Tigers were only going to give him opportunities off the bench. But Gleyber Torres getting injured for a short spell and Colt Keith slumping at the plate offered Torkelson the chance to step back into a full-time role, and he hasn't disappointed.

Torkelson's made the overwhelming majority of starts at first base (16 to Keith's three), and the Tigers didn't move him in favor of Keith immediately after Torres returned from the IL, instead shuffling Keith to DH. During their Thursday match against the Royals, it was Keith at first, Torres at second, and Torkelson as DH, but it's clear that the Tigers are making it a priority to get him at-bats. He's started every game so far this season, while Keith has ended up on the bench three times.

It would be a pretty audacious lie for anyone, including anyone affiliated with the Tigers organization, to say that they always knew this would happen. Torkelson dug himself into a deep hole last season that had fans begging for a trade in the offseason. But this is a situation where fans have to take the L with grace and give the guy his flowers.