Tigers patiently waiting for Spencer Torkelson to launch in '26

TL;DR

Spencer Torkelson is struggling at the plate, hitting .190 after 22 games this season. Tigers manager AJ Hinch emphasizes the challenge of balancing patience and aggression in hitting.

Key points

Spencer Torkelson is hitting .190 this season
He has played 22 games so far
Manager AJ Hinch discusses the balance of patience and aggression
Torkelson is the first baseman for the Tigers

Spencer TorkelsonDetroit Tigers

Boston — For a hitter, finding that productive space between patience and passivity is vital. Nobody understands that more than Spencer Torkelson.

Twenty-two games into the season and he is still searching for that happy place.

“It’s a tough sport,” manager AJ Hinch said. “You go through these situations where, when you are patient, you fall behind in the count. And when you try to be aggressive, you swing out of the zone a little bit.”

Tigers first baseman Spencer Torkelson entered Sunday's game hitting .190 on the season.

Torkelson, who hit 31 home runs in two of the last three seasons, is hitting .190 on the season and hasn’t launched one yet. He started the season going 3 for 21 and went into Sunday riding a 2-for-16 skid with six strikeouts.

“For Tork, connecting with one might be enough for him,” Hinch said. “It could click him right into being on time and hitting all pitches.”

That’s the thing, though; there have been stretches this season where it looked like he was on time and he was driving balls without results. In the first game of the series Friday in Boston, he worked a six-pitch at-bat against lefty Ranger Suarez and hit a ball 322 feet that Ceddanne Rafaela ran down in center.

In the 10th inning, he got a sinker middle-in from righty reliever Garrett Whitlock and smoked it, 101 mph off the bat. But he hit it on the ground, right at the shortstop.

But he looked like a completely different hitter Saturday. He struck out three times and tapped back to the pitcher. The Red Sox have been mixing speeds and trying to pitch him away. He was called out on strikes twice, including a three-pitch strikeout against lefty in which he looked at three straight changeups.