Spencer Torkelson took it to heart, but he didn't necessarily take it hard. He didn't play the victim. When the Tigers signed Gleyber Torres, shifted Colt Keith to first base and told Torkelson that he'd have to hit his way back onto the roster this spring, the former No. 1 pick knew that he was the culprit.
It was on Torkelson to clear his own name.
"I haven’t shown that I can play consistently, and there’s people who have decisions to make, important decisions," Torkelson told reporters at the start of camp. "And I haven’t given them a real solid belief in trusting (me) to this point."
Over his first three seasons in the majors, Torkelson led the Tigers in plate appearances. He had one power binge over a few months in year two to show for it. Otherwise, the best hitter in the 2020 draft had been one of the worst hitters in the bigs. Last year, which included his second demotion to Triple-A Toledo, was especially dreadful. The message from the Tigers this winter was a gentler version of 'Adapt or Die.'
The call came from Scott Harris before the shake-up in the infield. With Torres taking over second and Keith taking over for Torkelson at first, "I told him, 'If you make adjustments and have a big spring, there's going to be a spot for you and a role for you on this team,'" Harris said. "I meant it, and he proved it this spring."
"We issued a pretty big challenge to fight his way on this roster and fight his way for at-bats," said A.J. Hinch.
Torkelson could have taken it personally. Instead, he "took it seriously," said Hinch. He accepted the Tigers' coaching, got to work and "made a ton of subtle adjustments that have turned into a pretty athletic swing with damage, and a consistency in how he's going about his at-bats," said Hinch.
Torkelson's approach is simpler. Instead of trying to drill every ball into the seats, he's focused on driving it over the second baseman's head -- a page out of the book of Miguel Cabrera. His decisions are less robotic, his movements more natural. His eye, in turn, looks sharper. He was the Tigers' best hitter in spring training, "back to hitting the ball really hard again, which is a key strength for him," said Harris. Specifically, Torkelson is back to hitting fastballs.
"From my seat," Harris said, "he looks great."
From Hinch's seat, Torkelson's redemption story is just getting started. The next chapter opened Thursday night in Los Angeles. Torkelson drew a walk in his first plate appearance of the season, spitting on two changeups below the zone from Blake Snell to win the at-bat. He drew another in his second, laying off a pair of heaters above the zone. And yet another in his third, this time spitting on curveballs in the dirt.
These are easy takes for a hitter who's seeing it; easy whiffs for one who's not. As Tigers top hitting prospect Max Clark announced on X as he watched from home, "Tork is unbelievably locked in." When Torkelson saw a fastball on the inner third two innings later from reliever Alex Vesia, pulled in his hands and sent it soaring over the left-field fence -- 108 miles per hour off the bat, 423 feet through the air -- Clark reported, "nah that's a different kind of locked in."
It bears mention, Torkelson has always hit lefties well. Even in the doldrums of last year, he had a .798 OPS against left-handers, .629 against righties. Four of his five plate appearances Thursday night came against left-handed pitchers. But he did cap things off in the ninth by taking a couple sinkers just off the plate from star right-handed closer Blake Treinen to earn his fourth stroll to first.
The Tigers' rally came up short in a 5-4 loss to the reigning world champs, but Torkelson might -- might -- have launched a much more significant comeback of his own. He also made a little history, becoming the first MLB player since 1901 with four walks and a homer on Opening Day. The Tigers face two right-handed starters next in Yoshinobu Yamamoto and the latest Japanese star to join the Dodgers, Roki Sasaki. It would be quite the endorsement if Hinch sticks with Torkelson as his designated hitter.
"I’m very proud of Tork," said Hinch, "because I feel like there's been portions of our time here together where he's had the weight of the world on his shoulders. The work now starts again in the season for him to be a middle-of-the-order bat that we want to rely on. But it's a great hat tip to Tork on taking his offseason into the spring and really crushing his way to the Opening Day lineup."
Opening Day is one day, with so many more to come. It will take weeks and then months of production for Torkelson to start writing a new story. But after the first page of chapter four, everyone is eagerly turning to page two.