Has Spencer Torkelson Really Figured It Out This Time?

Spencer Torkelson‘s career has been filled with ups and downs. The Detroit Tigers‘ first overall pick from 2020 struggled as a rookie, hit 31 home runs in his second season, and found himself back in Triple-A Toledo last year.

Ups and downs filled with uncertainty led the Tigers to move Colt Keith to first this season, sending a clear message to Torkelson. Perform, or be replaced. I think that message was received and taken seriously. Torkelson put together a great spring that has carried over into the start of the regular season.

I’ll be careful not to overreact to such a small sample, but the changes Torkelson has made are obviously translating into success. Success that I think can be repeatable. Success that not only helps the Tigers but allows Torkelson to blossom into the player Detroit thought he could be when they selected him first overall.

There’s still more swing and miss than you would like, but his production makes the strikeouts easier to swallow. Credit the Tigers for not completely giving up on him, and credit to Torkelson for his willingness to make the necessary changes to unlock his best self.

Stats updated prior to first pitch on April 17th.

Spencer Torkelson’s Mechanical Changes

Although Torkelson had a 30 home run season under his belt, it was obvious that he needed to make changes in order to succeed.

I’m sure 2024 was a humbling year for him, having to return to the minors and earn his way back to the majors, but maybe that was the exact wake-up call his career needed. Wearing a SpongeBob-themed jersey in Toledo, Ohio will do a lot to a man’s mental side of things.

With the news of Keith moving to first, Torkelson knew he had to find a way to revive his career, and do so quickly. You have probably noticed the first change simply by watching Torkelson bat. He made a change in his stance that might not seem like a big change, but has led to a shift in his results.

The pictures above show Torkelson from 2024 (left), 2025 (middle), and his college days at Arizona State (right). You’ll notice his stance at Arizona State and his stance from this season are much more similar to one another than they are to his stance in 2024. More crouched, a bit more pre-swing tempo, and less body movement during delivery.

If you watched Torkelson last season, you might have noticed a little bit more body movement towards the plate during delivery. I believe this could have impacted not only his natural timing, but how he saw the ball. His head was moving more in 2024, making it difficult for a moving object (his head) to track another moving object (the ball).

Go watch some at-bats from this year and focus solely on Torkelson’s head and how little it moves. A more stable operation where his setup is closer to a loaded position has simplified his timing and eliminated enough unnecessary movement from his swing. Getting back closer to the stance that led him to being the first overall pick is showing early returns.

Another change, one that’s harder to see on television, has been where Torkelson is setting up in the box.

Thanks to the new tool over at Baseball Savant, we are able to track where Torkelson stands in the box. The top numbers are from 2024, while the bottom is from this year. Further back, feet closer together, more open stance. Out of all qualified players, only seven set up deeper in the box.

Standing deeper in the box allows a player a little more time to read the pitch and react. Torkelson moving his feet closer together could be a comfort thing, but also could allow for his torso to rotate in a more natural motion, helping him to produce more power.

Changes Resulting in Success

These changes might not seem drastic, but they are more significant than you may think. Just look at the results: He is slashing .273/.367/.621 and has already reached more than half of the home runs he produced from last year, and it has only been 18 games.

We are seeing these changes result in better, more impactful contact. Torkelson has a career-best 93.1 mph average exit velocity and 18.6% barrel rate.

Not only is he hitting the ball hard, he’s lifting it as well. In order for Torkelson to tap into the best version of himself, he also needs to pull those lifted balls, which he is doing at a much higher rate than in the past.

A relatively new stat called “Launch Angle Sweet Spot Percentage” measures the percentage of a player’s batted balls that fall between a launch angle of eight to thirty-two degrees. This range often results in line drives or “good” fly balls. Torkelson currently ranks in the 88th percentile (44.2%) compared to his 21st-percentile rate (31.5%) last season.

Hitting the ball harder while also launching the ball at an ideal angle results in the type of power that will make Torkelson a productive hitter. Detroit’s lineup could use a boost of power, and Torkelson is providing what the team was looking for during the offseason.

Torkelson had his struggles with velocity in the past, but that has not been the case so far this season. Last year, he slugged .379 against fastballs and is currently slugging .622 against high velocity. In 2023, when Torkelson hit 31 home runs, he feasted on fastballs, hitting .270 with 16 home runs. It seems that hitting fastballs can be what makes or breaks Torkelson.

Final Thoughts

Detroit was a fun story last season. The gritty Tigers were a typical underdog story coming together and finding success. So far, they are proving that run was not just luck, but the result of a young team coming together and establishing themselves as a legit threat.

A big reason for their success has been Torkelson’s turnaround. Seeing not only him, but Casey Mize, flash what the Tigers knew they could become has been a highlight of the beginning of this baseball season. I’m sure there will be a slump at some point, but Torkelson seems to be in a better spot to handle those struggles and work through them.

The Tigers needed another righty bat, and they might have filled that need simply by Spencer Torkelson being the best version of himself.