August 1st will mark two months since Spencer Torkelson's last game in the majors. He doesn't appear close to returning, but the Tigers aren't giving up on the former first overall pick -- who's just a year removed from swatting 30 homers in the bigs.
"He is still a part of our future," president of baseball ops Scott Harris said Tuesday after the trade deadline. "We have a lot faith in Tork. He has work to do in Triple-A and he’s hard at work to make a compelling case to come back here and demonstrate that can be our first baseman of the future. But we have all the faith in the world in Tork."
Torkelson was sent down to Triple-A Toledo in June after hitting just .207 with a .597 OPS through the first two months of this season. It was his second such demotion since arriving in Detroit in 2022.
He's been better in Toledo, but not to the point that the Tigers feel like he's ready to be recalled. He's hitting .246 with a .796 OPS, showing significantly less power than when he was first promoted to Toledo in 2021. His slugging percentage then was .531 -- 100 points higher than it is now.
Torkelson, who turns 25 next month, will almost surely get another chance in Detroit. A September call-up feels likely.
Question is, what will he do with it?