How former top pick Spencer Torkelson found his way after getting 'humbled'

Five years after being drafted as the No. 1 overall pick, and just two years after blasting 31 home runs in Detroit, Spencer Torkelson entered this spring on the brink.

A spot on the Tigers’ roster hung in the balance.

Torkelson regressed enough in 2024 that nearly 42% of his plate appearances came at Triple-A Toledo. He finished the year back up with the big-league club and started each of the Tigers’ seven playoff games, but the steep decline invited questions about the long-term viability of sticking with him on an ascending squad that appeared ready to take the next step.

Those questions intensified after Detroit signed second baseman Gleyber Torres and intended to bump 23-year-old second baseman Colt Keith over to Torkelson’s spot at first base. Torkelson understood the reality and the reasoning. He hadn’t performed.

He also recognized he could no longer continue down the same path and expect different results.

“Something needed to change,” Torkelson said.

And it has.

Two months into the 2025 season, after a series of mechanical adjustments designed to make him more athletic in the box, Torkelson has been the best hitter on the best team in baseball. With Torkelson pacing the offense in OPS, extra-base hits and RBI, the Tigers have 33 wins through 50 games and a 5.5-game lead in the American League Central.

A below-league-average hitter last year, Torkelson is batting 50% above league average in 2025. His .889 OPS puts him among the top four first basemen and top 20 qualified hitters in the game.

“I feel dangerous at the plate,” Torkelson said. “As a hitter, that’s all you can ask for. You’re not going to hit 1.000, but when you’re feeling dangerous, and you’re seeing the ball well, you feel like you can’t be beat.”

The turnaround was sparked more by a return than a reinvention. He had to get back to what worked before he became the top overall pick.

Torkelson’s power at Arizona State was prodigious enough for the Tigers to make him the first corner infielder to be selected first overall in the draft in 20 years. The choice did not come as a surprise. He launched 54 homers in 129 college games.

“In college and high school, they teach guys, ‘Throw it at the knees,’” Torkelson said. “So, you can just kind of look down there. Then you get to pro ball, and it’s changing eye levels, and you’re like, ‘I need to cover that.’”

In an effort to catch up to the high fastball after getting drafted, Torkelson began to stand up taller in his stance.

“Let’s kind of like make the high fastball not as high,” Torkelson thought. “And it worked. I got away with it. I hit 31 homers [in 2023], and I didn’t even feel that great.”

But there were opportunity costs. Success would come and go. He lacked the consistency he needed to live up to expectations and began to veer off course from what made him such a prolific offensive force.

Torkelson performed below replacement level as a rookie in 2022. Even when he mashed those 31 homers a year later, he was still barely a league-average hitter. Both years, he struggled to cover fastballs on the outer half. Last year, he improved that issue only to then falter against heaters on the inner half. His hard-hit rate plummeted, he struggled to find the barrel, and his strikeout rate rose.

“As a hitter, when you try to cover everything, you cover nothing,” Torkelson said. “When you’re simple, and you try to cover one pitch in one spot, you cover a lot. I think early in my career, I was trying to be a hero.”

How much of that was trying to live up to being a No. 1 pick?

“Maybe, yeah, definitely,” Torkelson said. “Coming out of college, too, I felt like I had it figured out. ‘Greatest hitter ever.’ I got humbled.”

Last summer marked a low point.

On June 1, 2024, after going 0-for-4 with two strikeouts, mired in a 3-for-37 funk, he was sent down to Triple-A. He would remain there for more than two months. At that point, he didn’t feel comfortable making wholesale changes in the middle of the season.

“I just tried to put a Band-Aid on it and compete and have fun,” Torkelson said.

This offseason provided more time to repair his approach. He was challenged to make adjustments and sought to rediscover the setup and swing that had garnered so much acclaim as an amateur player.

“It was just kind of getting back to what I’ve always done my entire life,” Torkelson explained.

For his numbers to get up, he had to get low.

He thought about how one of his favorite hitters, three-time MVP Mike Trout, had struggled throughout his career against elevated heaters.

“We don’t get paid to hammer the high fastball, we get paid to hammer the mistakes,” Torkelson realized. “If you’re kind of wasting too much energy worrying about that, you miss that.”

Torkelson started to sink deeper into a more athletic and open stance. He moved slightly off the plate and farther back in the box in an effort to see pitches longer.

But the biggest adjustment was narrowing the space between his feet. Last year, that distance was 36.7 inches. This year, it’s nearly a foot less.

“It wasn’t crazy, but it felt crazy for about two weeks,” Torkelson said. “Then it felt like myself, and I kind of stuck with that since November, December. When you feel comfortable and athletic in the box, you see the ball better and can actually trust that approach.”

It may not look quite as drastic as all of that sounds, but the uptick in production is staggering. Torkelson already has more home runs and RBI than he did all of last season. He’s averaging one homer every 14 at-bats in 2025 after averaging one every 34 in 2024.

Coincidentally, he is producing significantly better on pitches at the top of the zone with a less upright stance this year and is pummeling fastballs basically anywhere they’re thrown. His expected slugging percentage last year was .351. This year, it’s over .550.

He’s pulling the ball in the air significantly more often than ever before while still demonstrating power to all fields — four of his 12 homers have gone the other way — and registering both the highest barrel rate and walk rate of his career.

“I’ve always had a good eye, always known the strike zone,” Torkelson said. “Now, my approach lets me see the ball better.”

This spring, his teammates could tell immediately that something was different. Beyond the better results, there appeared to be a renewed level of confidence.

“A little bit of a chip on his shoulder,” Zach McKinstry explained, “which we hadn’t seen — for me, anyway. It was cool to watch. He’s a really good dude to be around. He was a little bit quiet in spring and just kind of let himself kind of grow back into it.”

As questions lingered about where he would play in the field or whether he’d make the team at all, Torkelson kept raking.

After hitting .340 with five homers in the spring, his 2025 regular season debut at Dodger Stadium epitomized his improvements. He went 1-for-1 with a home run and four walks as the Tigers’ designated hitter. Two days later, Torkelson was back at his usual spot at first base, where he now remains while starring on a young Tigers offense that is far exceeding expectations.

He has the third highest slugging percentage among all qualified first basemen this year, trailing only Freddie Freeman and Pete Alonso.

“He’s always been open-minded, he’s always been someone easy to work with, and he’s always been someone who has the burden of expectation on him from the minute he showed up in the big leagues to be perfect,” Tigers manager AJ Hinch said. “And even though it hasn’t been a perfect ascent, I’m very proud of the person, very proud of the player, to continue to endure the rigors of the challenge of playing up here.”

With that success, questions about his future with the club have subsided.

Considering the raw power he has always possessed, this level of play always seemed possible for the 2020 top overall pick.

Now, the only question is whether he can sustain it and weather the inevitable ups and downs to come.

“I always had that internal belief that I’m going to figure it out, and I’m going to find my way,” Torkelson said. “I still don’t have all the answers, but I definitely feel that I’m on the right track.”

Rowan Kavner is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. He previously covered the L.A. Dodgers, LA Clippers and Dallas Cowboys. An LSU grad, Rowan was born in California, grew up in Texas, then moved back to the West Coast in 2014. Follow him on X at @RowanKavner.