Tigers fans are in their feels about Spencer Torkelson as struggles compound

Tigers fans have a complicated relationship with Spencer Torkelson. To call it love-hate doesn't even feel particularly accurate. It might be oversimplifying the issue too much.

There was a time when fans were sure that Torkelson, the first overall pick of the 2020 draft, was going to fix everything. At just 18 years old, he led all of college baseball with 25 homers in just 55 games in his freshman year. It didn't just break Barry Bonds' 35-year-old home run record for an Arizona State freshman (11) — it obliterated it.

After he was drafted, he went straight to High-A and was already in Triple-A by the end of his first professional season. He was in Detroit by April 2022, less than two years after he was drafted. It might've come even sooner if not for the 2020 pandemic.

The hype for Torkelson was perhaps the greatest of any Tigers prospect since Justin Verlander, and perhaps the greatest of any first-round pick to come since. But this is only part of what makes Tork's career .225/.311/.412 line in the majors so heartbreaking.

Last week, the ASU Sun Devils announced that Bonds had been selected for their 2026 College Baseball Hall of Fame class (it's kinda weird that it hasn't already happened, huh?), and Tigers fans were forced to go back to wondering what could've been with Tork.

Barry Bond's College Baseball Hall of Fame selection has Tigers fans upset about Spencer Torkelson (again)

The thing that's so bothersome about Torkelson's .225/.311/.412 major league line is that it's just good enough. It's kept him on the Tigers' roster (apart from the demotion in 2024) and will continue to keep him on the roster until he becomes a free agent.

It might've been easier if he revealed himself as a complete bust within his first few years in the majors, but what we've gotten instead is a guy who can never seem to make up his mind. He'll have years like 2023 and 2025, when he managed to hit 31 home runs, but he'll also be the least clutch player in the Tigers' offense. He'll do things like hit a home run in five consecutive games, and then he'll turn around and go 5-for-40 until he starts hitting more homers.

The hardest thing about Torkelson is that he sometimes shows us these glimpses of what he could've been, or what everyone thought he could've been, and then fans have to come back down and recognize that it's just not going to happen.

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