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Sunday, July 17, 2022

Tigers send struggling rookie first baseman Spencer Torkelson back to Triple-A

The Detroit Tigers announced to reporters Sunday that rookie first baseman Spencer Torkelson has been optioned to Triple-A Toledo.

The demotion continues a trend of disappointment for Torkelson in 2022. He cracked the Opening Day roster for Detroit, but months of struggle followed. In 83 games for the Tigers this season, Torkelson has batted .197/.282/.295 (68 OPS+) with just five home runs. He’s also struck out in 25.5 percent of his plate appearances, which is worse than the league-average figure of 22.3 percent. Perhaps more concerning is that Torkelson simply isn’t driving the ball with any authority. Right now, he ranks in the 39th percentile in hard-hit rate and the 19th percentile in expected slugging percentage.

RoyalsRetro (AG#1F) Posted: July 17, 2022 at 06:40 PM | 7 comment(s) Login to Bookmark
Tags: spencer torkelson, tigers

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1. Starring Bradley Scotchman as RMc Posted: July 17, 2022 at 08:34 PM (#6087119)

Sigh.

2. Walt Davis Posted: July 17, 2022 at 08:42 PM (#6087121)

Trade him to the Cubs for Andrew Cashner

3. donlock Posted: July 18, 2022 at 12:42 AM (#6087152)

Of the past six first overall picks, Adley Rutschman is the only one on an active major league roster.

4. RoyalsRetro (AG#1F) Posted: July 18, 2022 at 12:50 AM (#6087154)

Also kinda interesting that Max Meyer (taken 3rd overall in the same draft) just got called up this week (5 R in 5.1 IP with 5 K 1 BB in his debut).

Heston Kjerstad (#2) just made his pro debut this month. Asa Lacy (#4) has been a mess. Austin Martin (#5) has been underwhelming (at least the Jays cashed him for Jose Berrios, although that hasn't worked out either)

5. TJ Posted: July 18, 2022 at 09:34 AM (#6087171)

Should have been done a few weeks ago. Watching Torkelson play pretty much every game, you could see he was regressing the longer he struggled. It’s one thing to let a rookie work through his first-year challenges if the player is showing some sort of progress. It’s another when the player isn’t, something apparently lost on the bumbling front office running my beloved Detroit Tigers…

6. DanG Posted: July 18, 2022 at 02:30 PM (#6087203)

Dividing his season into 23-game quarters shows a difference in approach, much more TTO in the beginning. Reminds me of how they screwed up Isaac Paredes.

Team G    Dates    PA  OPS  BA HR BB SO
1 to 23   4/8-5/4  81 .615 .174 3 11 26
24 to 46  5/5-5/29 66 .574 .179 1  8 15
47 to 69 5/30-6/22 80 .533 .216 0  5 16
70 to 92 6/24-7/16 71 .589 .215 1  5 19 

7. Walt Davis Posted: July 18, 2022 at 07:01 PM (#6087248)

Rutshcman of course started out very cold, bottoming out at 422 OPS on June 9. Then he got hot for 15 games (327/373/673) to get himself up to 730 but he's been stuck around there for 16 games now (196/312/392).That's still fine for a C but it's no Matt Wieters.

I see Joey Bart is back up. He's hit 276/344/552 in 32 PA since his return. (I know he's not really an uber-prospect at this point, I just always think of him ... and Matt Wieters ... when Rutschman's name comes up.)

Still early but Julio Rodriguez is the AL RoY front-runner I'd say, closely followed by Jeremy Pena. But if the O's keep winning, maybe Rutschman gets into the mix. The NL is a crapshoot right now -- by WAR, Donovan, Michael Harris and Strider are in a dead heat, I'd probably give the momentum to Strider; Morel and Gorman may just need more playing time though.

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Sunday, July 17, 2022

Tigers send struggling rookie first baseman Spencer Torkelson back to Triple-A

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