{"id":77883,"date":"2024-06-26T15:08:11","date_gmt":"2024-06-26T19:08:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=77883"},"modified":"2024-06-26T15:08:11","modified_gmt":"2024-06-26T19:08:11","slug":"former-number-one-pick","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/06\/26\/former-number-one-pick\/","title":{"rendered":"Update On Former #1 Draft Pick After Being Demoted"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">After a break-out season in 2023, Detroit Tigers fans were looking forward to seeing what <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/t\/torkesp01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-06-26_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Spencer Torkelson<\/a> would do in 2024.\u00a0 Torkelson was destined to build on his 31-home run season and lead the Tigers out of the basement of the American League Central. This season, Torkelson hovered above the Mendoza line and only hit four home runs before he was demoted back to Triple-A Toledo. So, what&#8217;s the update on the former #1 overall draft pick for the Tigers?<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Update On Former #1 Draft Pick After Being Demoted<\/h2>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/06\/02\/detroit-tigers-option-spencer-torkelson\/\" target=\"_self\">Torkleson<\/a> linked up with Toledo on June 4, 2024, and was immediately the team&#8217;s everyday first baseman.\u00a0 Torkelson brought a .201 batting average and an abysmal .330 slugging percentage to Triple-A. Torkelson has never hit for average, but two months into the season, Torkelson wasn&#8217;t hitting for power either.\u00a0 It only took four games before Tork <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.toledoblade.com\/sports\/mud-hens\/2024\/06\/07\/torkelson-homers-mud-hens-come-up-short-iowa\/stories\/20240607160\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">hit his first home run with Toledo<\/a>, coming against <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/p\/pannoth01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-06-26_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Thomas Pannone<\/a> of the Iowa Cubs.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">111 mph off the bat for Spencer Torkelson \ud83d\ude32 <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/sows1q3KdU\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/sows1q3KdU<\/a> <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/BlFwekBR2p\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/BlFwekBR2p<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Toledo Mud Hens (@MudHens) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MudHens\/status\/1799233631241773446?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">June 8, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-media-max-width=\"560\"><p>&nbsp;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h3><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Strikeouts Declining<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Since being sent down, Torkelson is slashing .274\/.372\/.452 with six multi-hit games through 18 contests.\u00a0 The <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2020\/05\/26\/spencer-torkelson-2020-mlb-draft-profile\/\" target=\"_self\">right-hander from Arizona State<\/a> also has seven extra-base hits. Torkelson&#8217;s BB:K rate is currently sitting near 1:2 in his short time with Toledo.\u00a0 This is a slight bump from his career numbers, which is approximately 1:3.\u00a0 If Tork wants to get back to the big leagues, this is one area he will need to continue improving. To put things in perspective, his BB:K ratio was sitting near 1:5 during Torkelson&#8217;s last month with the Tigers.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The Tigers Are Better With Torkelson<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The Tigers have played 22 games since sending Torkelson back to Triple-A.\u00a0 Detroit has compiled a 9-13 record over that span. The Tigers have called on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/c\/canhama01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-06-26_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Mark Canha<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/u\/urshegi01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-06-26_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Gio Urshela<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/i\/ibanean01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-06-26_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Andy Ibanez<\/a> to platoon at first base.\u00a0 In 22 games without Torkelson, the Tigers have a .202 batting average with only three extra-base hits and no home runs. Detroit has also only mustered six runs batted in from the first base position, which isn&#8217;t going to help you win many games.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">While the output from first base is almost identical without Torkelson, the Tigers average more runs per game with him. In 63 games with Tork in the lineup, Detroit averages <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">exactly<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> four runs a game. In the 22 games since sending Tork down, Detroit averages just under three runs a game (2.9).\u00a0 Detroit would also benefit from Torkelson&#8217;s home run upside. The Tigers have hit 73 home runs this season, which is good enough for 25th best in MLB.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Big Night At The Dish<\/h3>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Last evening, Torkelson had a big night at the plate.\u00a0 The 6&#8217;1 righty mashed two home runs against Triple-A Louisville, including a grand slam off of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/register\/player.fcgi?id=kravet000eva&amp;utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-06-26_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Evan Kravetz<\/a>. Torkelson ended up with six runs batted in while going 3-4.\u00a0 Toledo would <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">win<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> 14-4 against the Louisville bats, and Torkelson raised his batting average by 30 points.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Spencer Torkelson got 7 consecutive changeups, and this one went 359 feet to left for a grand slam. It\u2019s his 2nd home run of the night, and Toledo leads 11-0. <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/It23LuVjNo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/It23LuVjNo<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Tigers ML Report (@tigersMLreport) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/tigersMLreport\/status\/1805768094725341219?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">June 26, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-media-max-width=\"560\"><p>&nbsp;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">With this kind of output, the Tigers can&#8217;t afford to leave the former number-one pick in Triple-A much longer.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Main Photo Credits: Eric Canha-USA TODAY Sports<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After a break-out season in 2023, Detroit Tigers fans were looking forward to seeing what Spencer Torkelson would do in 2024.\u00a0 Torkelson was destined to build on his 31-home run season and lead the Tigers out of the basement of the American League Central. This season, Torkelson hovered above the Mendoza line and only hit [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5131,"featured_media":77926,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_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":[11,926],"tags":[5068,2792,1081,3682,2763],"class_list":["post-77883","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tigers","category-milb","tag-andy-ibanez","tag-gio-urshela","tag-mark-canha","tag-spencer-torkelson","tag-toledo-mud-hens"],"modified_by":"Evan Mazza, Site Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77883","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\/5131"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77883"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77883\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77926"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}