{"id":32020,"date":"2020-05-26T23:43:58","date_gmt":"2020-05-27T03:43:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonbaseball.com\/?p=32020"},"modified":"2020-05-26T23:43:58","modified_gmt":"2020-05-27T03:43:58","slug":"spencer-torkelson-2020-mlb-draft-profile","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2020\/05\/26\/spencer-torkelson-2020-mlb-draft-profile\/","title":{"rendered":"Spencer Torkelson 2020 MLB Draft Profile"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The MLB is getting way younger. Players like <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/b\/bellico01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Cody Bellinger<\/a><\/strong>, <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/s\/sotoju01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Juan Soto<\/a>,<\/strong> and <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/a\/acunaro01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ronald Acuna Jr.<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0haven&#8217;t even hit 25 yet. All three of those players have two things in common, they&#8217;re rising superstars and they have lots of power. <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/register\/player.fcgi?id=torkel000spe&amp;utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Spencer Torkelson<\/a><\/strong> will fit right in because of those two things.<\/p>\n<h3>Strengths<\/h3>\n<p>Torkelson is one of the most MLB-ready players in this draft. That being said, he has invariable tools that can help his future MLB franchise. One of these tools is power and a lot of it. In 2019, the slugging first baseman hit .351\/.446\/.707 with 17 doubles and 23 homers. His ability to work counts and control at-bats leads to him being able to drive his pitch. Furthermore, he walks at a very solid rate as well, meaning he gets on baseball regardless of whether he hits a homer or not.<\/p>\n<p>Torkelson really impressed scouts after his freshman year performance, where he hit .320\/.440\/.743 with 25 homers. Afterward, he was invited to the Cape Cod League where he absolutely dominated. In the 2018 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.capecodbaseball.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">CCBL<\/a> season he hit .333\/.472\/.704 once again flexing his hitting prowess.<\/p>\n<p>It was much of the same for Spencer the following year, once again putting up gaudy numbers in dominating fashion. In 2020, before losing the season to the COVID-19 pandemic, Torkelson was hitting .340\/.598\/.780 with four doubles and six homers through 17 games.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Cs2_PrUGPsY\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h3>Weaknesses<\/h3>\n<p>Torkelson hits the ball very well. Unfortunately for him, he&#8217;s no <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/h\/henderi01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Rickey Henderson<\/a><\/strong> on the basepaths. While he&#8217;s not slow as molasses, he&#8217;s not fast as lightning either. On the MLB scale, Torkelson scored a 40 for speed. Some people would also say that his fielding is a &#8220;weakness&#8221;, but in reality, it&#8217;s right on par for an MLB first baseman. He scored a 50 on the MLB scale which is right around &#8220;Average&#8221;, and his elite bat certainly does make up for it.<\/p>\n<p>Most first baseman aren&#8217;t usually known for their glovework, but more for their bat. Players like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/f\/fieldpr01.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Prince Fielder<\/strong><\/a>, <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/c\/cabremi01.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Miguel Cabrera<\/a>,<\/strong> and a few others come to mind when talking about guys that were average fielders. Cabrera won a triple crown, and Fielder consistently was atop the home run leaders. Torkelson is in the same boat, and his fielding won&#8217;t impact his playing time.<\/p>\n<h3>MLB Player Comparison<\/h3>\n<p>There&#8217;s something about Torkelson&#8217;s plate approach that screams &#8220;elite plate presence&#8221;. At 6&#8217;1 220 lbs, he is a force to be reckoned with at the plate. His powerful approach coupled with his ability to get on base would remind you of <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/v\/vottojo01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Joey Votto<\/a><\/strong> of the Cincinnati Reds. Coming out of an institute in Canada in 2002, Votto was similarly rated bat-wise to Torkelson. The only glaring difference is that Joey Votto was originally drafted as a catcher, not a first baseman. Once Votto was at home at first base, he flourished into an MVP caliber player and the face of the franchise for the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonbaseball.com\/2020\/03\/31\/cincinnati-reds-all-decade-team\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Cincinnati Reds<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Votto is quite the comparison, as he is one of the elite on-base guys in baseball, and during his prime, he was regularly a guy who amassed 60+ EBH. After seeing what Torkelson can do at the plate, he is one of the &#8220;MVP caliber&#8221; players in this MLB Draft.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/3R2K4DT5Tg0\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Main Image<br \/>\n<a id=\"Tdd1j1nkRwdPIP5HQof6cw\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1147886108\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'Tdd1j1nkRwdPIP5HQof6cw',sig:'tgUvDkbVJ1TtddrXavZLRlBpdHnQ9702f0UVD9SrQaE=',w:'594px',h:'424px',items:'1147886108',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The MLB is getting way younger. Players like Cody Bellinger, Juan Soto, and Ronald Acuna Jr.\u00a0haven&#8217;t even hit 25 yet. All three of those players have two things in common, they&#8217;re rising superstars and they have lots of power. Spencer Torkelson will fit right in because of those two things. Strengths Torkelson is one of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2174,"featured_media":32099,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2673,899,2133,1308,3682],"class_list":["post-32020","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","tag-arizona-state-sun-devils","tag-cody-bellinger","tag-juan-soto","tag-mlb-prospects","tag-spencer-torkelson"],"modified_by":"Jared Cantatore","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32020","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2174"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32020"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32020\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32099"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32020"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32020"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32020"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}