Three players facing make-or-break seasons for the Detroit Tigers

The Detroit Tigers are running out of time on three players as they shift toward competitiveness

Acquiring, developing, and retaining young players is the focal point of the Detroit Tigers under the Scott Harris regime. While there is no shortage of such players in Detroit and on the farm, finding the right mix of talent moving forward will be vital to the next contender.

Player development is how things have been trending around the league for some time now. The Tigers made their own attempts to modernize their processes under Al Avila; creating a companywide software known as Caesar and finally diving into some technologies like Rapsodo and Trackman which had been available and were already around the league. As we now know, though, it's one thing to have the information available, it's another to be able to interpret that information, put it in a digestible format, and communicate it to players in a way that resonates.

As the Tigers work to untangle some developmental knots, there are a few players who are currently entering a crossroads in their respective careers. Maybe a rough finish means the end of their stay on the 40-man roster, or perhaps it means a vastly reduced role moving forward, but these three desperately need a productive 2023 to realize the role they were expected to fill at maturity.

1. OF Akil Baddoo

I must admit, others were discussing the possibility of an Akil Baddoo sophomore slump. I did not see it. I felt Baddoo's plate discipline was strong and his speed would allow him to impact the game in ways that may or may not show up on the stat sheet, but would nevertheless keep him a valuable MLB commodity.

At his best, Baddoo is a scrappy, 'dirt bag' type outfielder who sprays the ball around, takes the extra base and can surprise with his power. The lefty's strikeout percentage increased while his exit velocities decreased--a challenge for a hitter that was already in the bottom six percent of the league in 2021. While Baseball Reference still considered Baddoo above replacement level, Fangraphs had Baddoo at a -0.2 WAR across his 73 games last year.

The climb for Baddoo to regular playing time in Detroit in 2023 is complicated. The Tigers now have left-handed hitters in Riley Greene and Austin Meadows occupying two-thirds of their outfield, and new trade acquisition Matt Vierling is almost certainly a lock to get regular playing time in right field. Additionally, Kerry Carpenter has shown the ability to hang with big-league pitching and he likely has an inside track to occupy a bench spot. This doesn't even factor in Eric Haase, who is also likely to see some outfield time too.

Baddoo and Carpenter both have multiple options remaining, so the club could afford to stash either or both for some time as necessary, but if Baddoo struggles in Toledo and room needs to be made on the 40-man roster, he may ultimately be the odd man out.

3. 1B Spencer Torkelson

Torkelson, unlike the others listed above, aren't on the 40-man fringe. Regardless of what happens for him in 2023, it's fair to assume his spot on the roster is safe at season's end. However, if Torkelson essentially repeats his rookie season, he cannot be the starting first baseman for the Detroit Tigers in 2024. Hard stop.

I do still ultimately see an everyday profile for Spencer Torkelson, and given the financial investment the organization made in making him the first overall pick in the 2020 MLB Draft, he will get every chance to realize such a role for the organization. No, Torkelson doesn't need to have an all-star season. But a .230/.310/.380 line with 20 home runs is a pretty reasonable ask to justify a starting role moving forward.

It's a perplexing profile--he doesn't have the prototypical first base size, yet he's more athletic and a better runner than the average first baseman. His exit velocities are strong, but he hit just .203 in 2022 and his xBA doesn't even suggest bad luck. He takes his walks and he rarely chases out of the zone, but his passive nature haunts him at times. To top it off, his ISO is .115 on pitches middle/middle and he's hitting just .212 in the same zone.

It's not time to panic with Spencer Torkelson, but it is time to be cautious. If improvement doesn't happen in 2023, it leaves the organization to develop a different plan for the position in the near-term. He may not lose his job in any event, but he'll most certainly lose his role.