There’s more to come. A lot more.
But only one can be the first. So you can hardly blame Spencer Torkelson for pausing to take it all in Wednesday at Comerica Park.
The Tigers’ prized rookie slugger took a good cut and then heard a familiar crack — felt it, too — as his bat connected with a 94-mph fastball from Boston’s lefty reliever Austin Davis.
The immediate result was a snapshot of the Tigers’ future. And even on a dreary, rain-drenched afternoon that saw the home team fall behind 7-1 — and still trailing when Torkelson came to the plate with a runner on and nobody out in the bottom of the seventh — it was a picture that resulted in an accidental pose.
Torkelson’s towering 396-foot shot over the Tigers’ bullpen in left field — launched with an exit velocity of 105.7 mph, if you’re keeping track of such things — was a sight to behold. And behold, the rookie did.
“It was great,” Torkelson said in the Tigers’ clubhouse afterward, smiling as he sheepishly admitted that it wasn’t quite the way it looked. “I kind of stood there and enjoyed it a little bit. I didn’t mean to show up the pitcher or anything. I just knew I got it as soon as I hit, and I wanted to enjoy it.”
As he should have, this being the first home run of his major-league career. In the final game of his first homestand in Detroit, no less, even if it was another loss for the Tigers, who fell by a 9-7 score after an encouraging rally the rookie helped spark in the late innings.
“We were down a little bit and it wasn’t a huge home run,” Torkelson said. “But in my mind, I just wanted to soak in that moment and enjoy watching that ball go.”
Off it went, and there he goes now, just like everyone knew he could. Or would, in the case of manager A.J. Hinch who has politely mocked some questions this past week about Torkelson’s extended search for his first MLB hit.
‘He’s a good player’
Torkelson, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2020 draft, was 0-for-10 at the plate to start his career, foiled by some bad luck and some questionable calls in the Tigers’ first few games. Whatever the reasons, as Hinch noted Wednesday, “He’s a good player. I’m not that consumed by 10 at-bats in the big leagues.”
Torkelson ended that search Tuesday, sending a double to right-center field off Boston’s veteran starter Rich Hill — a guy who was drafted the same summer Torkelson was born — in the third inning of Tuesday’s 5-3 loss.
Afterward, the even-keeled rookie talked about feeling a bit of relief, and finally being able to relax, what with that milestone out of the way. Hinch said much the same Tuesday night: “Hopefully he can exhale and everybody around him can exhale. Tork needs to get all the firsts out of the way. He’s got a few left to conquer.”
One less now, though, after Torkelson’s blast Wednesday, a shot that he followed up in his next at-bat with a line-drive single to lead off the eighth, where the Tigers scored three times and brought the go-ahead run to the plate. Encouraging stuff, all of it — and not just for the rookie — as the Tigers boarded a flight bound for Kansas City and an important A.L. Central series this weekend.
“That was really fun,” Torkelson said. “And that’s what great teams do. They feed off each other, they get to a pitcher and that’s what we did. We didn’t come out on top but that’s definitely something to build off of.”
So is the aggressiveness the rookie showed at the plate Wednesday, jumping on early-count offerings from a pair of Red Sox relievers, one (Davis) from the left and the other (Kutter Crawford) from the right. In the case of Davis, specifically, it was a pitcher he’d faced as a pinch-hitter in the eighth inning of Monday’s win, when he ultimately struck out after an eight-pitch battle. Apparently, he’s a quick study, this kid.
“It does help, seeing a guy twice,” he said. “I saw all his pitches two days ago when I pinch-hit. I saw ‘em well, and I just missed a slider that got in on me. So I stayed on the fastball (today) and he gave it to me. … I was really hunting the fastball. And when I’m doing that, when I’m seeing the ball really well, I’m gonna be aggressive in the zone.”
Enormous power
And when he does that, with that compact swing of his that produces enormous power, well, now we’ve all seen what can happen. It’s why he was the unquestioned top pick in the draft a couple years ago, and why it was only a matter of time before the fans started taking home Tork souvenirs from the ballpark here in Detroit.
(By the way, kudos to the kid who caught Torkelson’s first career homer Wednesday, then happily tossed it to the Tigers’ relievers in the bullpen to give to the rookie. He was rewarded after the game by a visit to the dugout to meet Torkelson, and he headed home with an autographed bat, batting gloves and signed tickets from Opening Day.)
Spencer Torkelson’s first major-league homer can’t save Tigers in 9-7 loss to Red Sox
As for Torkelson’s own takeaways from his first week in the big leagues, there were a few he rattled off Wednesday. Chief among, them, he says, is the realization “that these guys are gonna give you their best stuff every chance they get. Because they’re trying to put food on their table as well. So you’ve gotta be on top of your game, you’ve got to maintain focus, no matter what inning, no matter what the score is. Just go get it.”
Beyond that, it’s mostly what he’d already learned in a quick trip through the minor leagues last summer. There was a 1-for-16 stretch with 10 strikeouts before he began raking in High-A ball at West Michigan. He began 2-for-11 at Double-A Erie then started smashing homers on a regular basis. Torkelson finished his climb up the ladder by belting 11 homers in 33 games at Triple-A Toledo, but only after a 4-for-28 debut there.
As for what he took from all that, Torkelson shrugged, “I learned to trust myself.”Also to respect the baseball gods, he added, because “they were testing me a little bit.”
“But you just keep the same energy, keep the same course,” he said, “and it’ll find its way.”
And when it does, when it looks and sounds the way that first home run did Wednesday afternoon, well, you’d better find a way to revel in it just a little.
“I think I’d be lying if I said there wasn’t any validation,” Torkelson said. “But I’m gonna just keep doing me and … stuff like that will keep happening.”
john.niyo@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @JohnNiyo
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