Spencer Torkelson run is overshadowing Riley Greene's massive strides for Tigers

Spencer Torkelson's five consecutive games with a home run ties him with five Tigers hitters — Hank Greenberg, Rudy York, Vic Wertz, Willie Horton, and Marcus Thames — for the longest streak in franchise history.

It's been a stunning power surge for a player who slipped down to eighth in Detroit's lineup just eight games into the season. It won't last forever, of course, and he still has some ugly stats to contend with (you guys seen his career numbers with the bases loaded?), but fans are hopeful that it means we'll see some more consistency from here on out.

Torkelson has never lived up to the expectations a first overall pick is saddled with, which makes any sign of life that much more thrilling. He might not be truly great, but we'll take good at this point.

The Tigers have been up-and-down through this entire first month of play, and Torkelson's delayed but loud arrival could mark a turning point. Add them to Kevin McGonigle and Dillon Dingler's consistency and Riley Greene's quieter but vast improvements, and the Tigers could have a very solid offense on their hands.

Greene doesn't have Tork's streak and he still has fewer home runs, but he's the Tigers' second best hitter by almost every metric. McGonigle is in a world of his own, but Greene is the best of the rest with a .301 average, .400 OBP, 19 runs scored, and 17 RBI (tied for second with Kerry Carpenter behind Dingler).

Riley Greene might not have a homer streak to grab headlines, but his quiet improvements are guiding Tigers' offense

In the grand scheme of things, Greene is still striking out a fair amount (29, third among Tigers hitters), but his 24.2% strikeout rate is already worlds better than the 30.7% he put up last year. The 7% to 14.2% jump in his walk rate is even more astounding. Since April 11, he's hit .408/.508/.673.

It took Greene a while to wake up, too — though he was faster to it than Torkelson — which begged a nagging question: could he be a superstar?

The answer still might be no. Greene has always shown more promise than Torkelson, and his 36-homer 2025 season made some baseball writers vastly overestimate him going into 2026. He probably isn't going to hit 50 home runs this season, but we'd take the advanced plate discipline and the ability to keep the line moving any day. That's the stuff that's going to be truly sustainable.

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