Entering Wednesday's game against the Twins, Spencer Torkelson was hitting .174 since a two-homer game last month against the Royals. He was 2-for-his-last 23 and 4-for-his-last 34. He struck out in his first two at-bats Wednesday. Naturally, Torkelson homered in his next two in the Tigers' 9-5 win over the Twins -- his third double-dinger game of the season.
"It changes in a heartbeat at this level," said A.J. Hinch. "One good night can all of a sudden get you back on track."
So can one good swing. Torkelson's first homer was a bomb to right field, his first opposite field shot since going to right-center against the Cardinals back in May and just his third in the bigs. The only other time he's cleared the right field fence at Comerica was early last season in Miguel Cabrera's 3,000th-hit game against the Rockies. At the time, it seemed like a swing we'd see often from Torkelson. Indeed, it was the swing he was known for growing up.
"Ever since I can remember hitting home runs, all my home runs were center field, right center field," Torkelson said. "So I think getting back to that and getting back to the trust of using the big part of the field, sometimes you look at how deep it is out there (at Comerica) and it can be difficult on the mind, like, can I trust it? But you just gotta tell yourself I do have that type of power and I can use the whole field."
On the morning of his 3,000th hit, Cabrera sat at his locker in the Tigers' clubhouse and gestured in Torkelson's direction. He said the club's next great right-handed hitter was on deck: "He has the potential to be the man here in Detroit." Cabrera raved about Torkelson's mature approach, his knowledge of the strike zone and, of course, his penchant for going the other way.
“He's getting comfortable, comfortable, comfortable," Cabrera said. "When people get comfortable like that, it's dangerous. He's going to be dangerous.”
No one goes the other way like Cabrera. Of his 508 career homers, only 188 have gone to left field. Even in batting practice, he drives everything to right field, a routine Torkelson has adopted himself. So as the 23-year-old jogged past Cabrera on the on-deck circle after drilling a hanging changeup into the right field seats Wednesday night, Miggy stopped him for a hug and said, "Great swing."
"When I first heard about Spencer Torkelson, the first thing I was told was the oppo power and how he was going to direct the ball a lot toward right center field," said A.J. Hinch. "I think when he got to the big leagues, he didn’t get rewarded for that, at all, in the ballpark. (Pitchers were) pounding him in and he started getting pull-conscious. Now he can do both."
It's easy for a young hitter -- especially a first overall pick under the weight of expectations, especially in a ballpark as vast as Comerica -- to get pull-happy. And Torkelson, to be clear, has plenty of pull-power. That's been the source of his limited success in the bigs. But Torkelson will tell you he's at his best when he's "staying inside the baseball" and driving it to center and right-center. That was his approach Wednesday against 6'9 righty Bailey Ober, whose downhill fastball sets up his changeup. The homer, said Torkelson, "just happened naturally."
"I saw that off-speed pitch up and wanted to stay on it. ... A lot of trust goes into that, trusting that when I can stay to the big part of the field, I might get jammed on an inside pitch, but I’m going to do damage with a mistake out over the plate. So I’m kind of giving a little to get a little." (To get a lot, we might add.)
Torkelson carried an OPS of .692 into Wednesday night's game. He has the same wRC+ the last two seasons as Tigers utility man Zach McKinstry. Of all the issues that have plagued Torkelson in the bigs, of all the valid reasons for concern, the most glaring has been his inability to do damage in the zone. He frequently swings at crushable pitches, infrequently crushes them. He tapped back into his own talent Wednesday night. His second homer was a 415-foot blast to left center on a hanging slider from 6'5 righty Jordan Balazovic, who had come out of the bullpen throwing smoke.
"I don’t think it’s so much, like, trying to hit for power as it's, 'Gosh, this guy’s throwing 98, I’ve got to get the head out,'" Torkelson said. "I think it’s a mix between trusting (your approach) and hitting mistakes. If he were to dot three fastballs right inside, hopefully you maybe break your bat and get an opposite field hit or you’re on time and you pull it, but the mistakes you’ve gotta get hammered. That’s what you’re looking for."
That's what the Tigers have been looking for out of Torkelson for the better part of two seasons. That's what they saw, in striking color, Wednesday night. That's what they heard, two balls screaming off the bat and the fans roaring in approval. And that's what a legitimate slugger looks like in the bigs, power to all fields and an appetite for mistakes. It was only one swing, but maybe it's a sign of Torkelson, "getting comfortable, comfortable, comfortable" at last.
"He’s going to mature," said Hinch. "He’s still a very, very young hitter at this level. I don’t know if it's untapped (power), I just think it’s part of the process of him becoming a more complete power hitter. Obviously tonight was a great swing, and we’ll see more and more of those."
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