A year after the Tigers raised eyebrows by introducing first overall pick Spencer Torkelson as a third baseman, it sounds like they're ready to commit to him at first.
Asked Tuesday where he plans to play current first baseman Jonathan Schoop moving forward, A.J Hinch told MLB Network Radio, "I would like to see him move around. That's what I love about managing a versatile roster. Jonathan is really going to fill in depending on what our needs are. There's no secret that the first baseman of the future is going to be Spencer Torkelson."
Torkelson played first throughout his college career at Arizona State. He hadn't played third since high school when the Tigers started grooming him there last summer because, in the words of GM Al Avila, "we feel he’ll bring a lot more value that way." To wit: an elite bat at third is harder to find than one at first.
The Tigers continued the experiment at the start of this season, with Torkelson splitting time between third and first in both High-A West Michigan and Double-A Erie. But he's played exclusively at first since being promoted to Triple-A Toledo last month, and it sounds like that's where he'll stay. To wit: take an elite bat wherever you can find it.
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"He’s in Triple A, he’s hitting a homer about every other day and he's opening eyes, eyes that were quite honestly already open to him," Hinch said. "I don’t know when his arrival is going to be. The organization will be very smart about his development. But when he arrives that will create a little more opportunity (for Schoop) at maybe second base, maybe third. We have other guys that are playing there right now, so that will create some roster dilemmas for us."
These are good dilemmas to have. Torkelson, who has six homers in his past 12 games after a slow start with the Mud Hens, is a pillar of the Tigers' rebuild, and Schoop is a fixture of their immediate future. Detroit's need at third has been solved by the growth of 27-year-old Jeimer Candelario, who leads the majors in doubles this season. The club's only obvious hole in the infield comes at short, and they could fill it in free agency this winter.
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"Under the roster construction we have now, first base is where the need is and (Schoop) can do it," Hinch said. "If the roster’s constructed differently moving forward then he can move around, and that’s one of the reasons we wanted him around for the next couple years, is that ability to go use that arm at second base or third or wherever. And if I need to give Miggy a day off, I can DH Jonathan Schoop. He’s a middle-of-the-order bat. He’s a good addition for a lot of different roster constructions, and that’s why we kept him."
Another versatile infielder you can bet on the Tigers keeping is Harold Castro, possibly at the expense of Niko Goodrum. Castro is having another quietly solid season at the plate, while playing every position in the infield, and lately he's even shown some power. Half of his extra-base hits this season have come in his past 14 games.
"He’s a fun guy to have on our team and he’s largely unappreciated in this era of how we value players," said Hinch. "You look at walk rate and exit velocity and things that are starting to define hitters, but when you’re on the bench and you need a base hit, you look for Harold Castro. He is somebody that comes up and will put the barrel on the ball. He’s had a number of key hits for us. He does hit it on a line, he doesn’t loft, he's not the launch angle era type of hitter, but he’s gonna add that quality because he barrels it up. You do give away the walk rate and some of the longer at-bats, but nobody complains when you get hits that you don’t walk enough. It’s when you don’t hit that people start looking at your walk rate."
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Castro, who plays mostly against right-handed pitchers, has a career .292 average in 200-plus games across four big-league seasons. That includes a career .306 mark against righties. He's a contact hitter in an era where fewer and fewer exist. He turns 28 in November and the Tigers have him under team control through 2025.
"I like him to balance out a lot of our right-handed hitters, especially in the infield," said Hinch. "He’s been good at moving around the field, he’s played all four infield positions, he’s played the outfield. There’s a role for a player like this even in today’s era, despite the questionable wRC+ or the questionable exit velocity or he’s not launching the ball -- but he did hit a ball into the bushes (at Comerica Park last week) which is 420+ away. So the power’s in there, but he doesn’t necessarily sell out for it, and in today’s era that’s under-appreciated. But when it’s on your team you kind of dig it."
