Spencer Torkelson - 2023

 

Spencer Torkelson  🇺🇸(2023)

Spencer Enochs Torkelson (August 26, 1999, Petaluma, California). Is an American baseball first baseman for the Detroit Tigers. Torkelson was selected first overall by the Tigers in the 2020 Major League Baseball draft.

To make a selection of the best young players of this season, they had to meet one of two conditions: be under 25 years old and/or have their first season in the MLB. Torkelson was close to being part of the top 20 in the MLB, ranking 21st in home runs (31), 30th in RBI (94), in addition to making 141 hits, a mark surpassed by only 69 players this season.

Torkelson made his debut in early 2022, but it was in the 2023 season that his talent began to shine, meeting expectations. He achieved incredible numbers for a rookie, with .233 AVG, .758 OPS, 94 RBI, 31 HR, and 141 hits.

In this analysis, we will explore Torkelson's strengths and weaknesses in his offensive power.

If you have any questions regarding the types of pitches (Fastball, Changeup, etc.), here is all the necessary information

Enjoy it 🙌

The data provided is from Baseball Savant.

1-Hits

Torkelson received 2814 pitches in the 2023 season. Moreover, he faced 12 types of pitches, with the FS Fastball (30.7%), Slider (21.6%), Sinker (15.6%), and Changeup (11.5%) being the most received pitches. He ranked 12th in the MLB for the highest number of pitches this season.

Torkelson is a power hitter, managing 50.9% of his hits at an exit velocity of 95 mph or more, ranking 11th in the MLB in this category (Hard Hit %).

In the chart below, we can observe the direction of his hits. Torkelson had 141 hits, of which 75 were singles, 34 doubles, one triple, and 31 home runs. Additionally, 43.5% were to the left side of the field, 32% to the center field, and 24.5% to the right field.

With Runners in Scoring Position (RISP), he did not have a great overall performance, with .208 batting average, 44 strikeouts, 27% strikeout rate. Despite these numbers, he managed to achieve 55 RBIs.

Before we continue, here is a compilation of his best moments from the 2023 season.

In the graph below, we can see the location of the hits, where it is clearly visible that he made 31 hits in the middle of the strike zone. Overall, 41% of the hits were in the middle zone and only 12% outside the strike zone, with his favorite pitch being the FS Fastball, accounting for 35% of the total.

With fastballs in general(FS Fastball, Cutter and Sinker), he averaged .271 batting average,  49 singles, 21 doubles, 1 triple, and 17 home runs.

An interesting fact is that in the Out of Zone Swing %(Swing outside the strike zone) category, he ranked 28th with one of the lowest averages in the MLB with 23.8%.

Now, to provide more information about his hits, we can see in the chart below his favorite pitch, as mentioned before, the FS Fastball, which resulted in 22 singles, 17 doubles, 1 triple, and 9 home runs. 

Further down, we can observe the percentage of hits depending on the Launch Angle and Exit Velocity. Torkelson excels in making flares and burners with 42%, which are hits with low launch angle and flares are hits with high launch angle. There are only a few instances of poor quality or poorly connected hits in his performance. (4% Under and 1% Weak). You can see more about launch angle and speed.

With an incredible 32% of his hits classified as Barrels (hits with a velocity greater than 98 mph and a launch angle between 26 and 30 degrees), he tied as the sixth player with the most barrels in the MLB, alongside Adolis Garcia and Pete Alonso, with 62. 

This puts him in the company of players like 3- Shohei Ohtani - 70, 2- Matt Olson - 73, 1- Ronald Acuña - 86, the leaders in this category. you can see more information about Barrel here)

To conclude with Torkelson's hits, we can see below a radial graph that details the launch angle and exit velocity, averaging a Launch Angle of 16° and an average exit velocity of 98.4 mph.

Speaking of Torkelson's 31 home runs, 16 fall into the "No Doubters" category, meaning that those 16 could have been home runs in any MLB ballpark.

2- Plate Discipline

Now, let's talk about his plate discipline. With 171 strikeouts, he ranked 14th in the MLB (with at least 400 at-bats). We can see that he has the profile of a player who takes big swings and aims for powerful contact, similar to players like Pete Alonso, Kyle Schwarber, or Adolis Garcia.

One notable aspect of his performance this season is that Torkelson has stood out in situations with two outs and runners in scoring position (RISP), averaging .254 BA, .748 OPS, and 20 RBIs in 64 games.

But on the other hand, when we look in more detail, in situations with two strikes (0-2, 1-2, 2-2), his batting averages were .098, .115, .177 respectively. This could indicate a lack of patience in these situations or poor pitch selection, as out of the 171 strikeouts he had this season, 22% were called strikeouts and 78% were swinging strikeouts.

In the chart below, it shows the strikes Torkelson got in 2023, between called strikes (59%) and swinging strikes (41%), he had 66 strikeouts with fastballs, 78 with breaking balls, and 25 with offspeed balls. 

Speaking about Whiff %, he had 33.5% with offspeed balls, in other words, it was the type of pitch that had the least effectiveness, even registering  .148 AVG in 2023.