Spencer Torkelson recalled from Triple-A Toledo, Bligh Madris optioned

It’s call-up season in Detroit. On Saturday the Tigers announced that they had recalled first baseman Spencer Torkelson from Triple-A Toledo. First baseman Bligh Madris has been optioned to Toledo in his place.

When the Detroit Tigers called up shortstop Trey Sweeney and third baseman Jace Jung on Friday, a popular refrain was that the club needs to get a look at its young players against big league pitching to evaluate how to proceed this offseason. Sweeney was red hot at the plate and bound for the 40-man roster anyway this offseason, so it made sense to give him a look. Jace Jung did not have to be added to the 40-man, and has had a fine but undistinguished season at the Triple-A level. With the August 15 cutoff to maintain rookie eligibility in 2025 just passed on Thursday, the timing all checked out even if Jung was a bit of a surprise.

We can put Torkelson’s return in this category as well. As they look ahead to a crucial offseason for the team, it makes some sense to see if Torkelson can show that he’s made some adjustments and can become a productive member of the lineup on a consistent basis. The problem is that there’s been no evidence to suggest he’s figured things out.

Since he was demoted back in early June, the soon to be 25-year-old Torkelson has struck out 30.9 percent of the time. He’s walked a ton, posting a 15.3 percent walk rate that helped him to a .356 OBP with a 11 home runs in 275 plate appearances, but that’s still only good for a 107 wRC+, which even at the Triple-A level does not remotely cut it for a first baseman, let alone one whose defensive abilities are also very much under scrutiny.

With the Mud Hens, Torkelson has produced a very good .374 wOBA with a .266 batting average against all fastballs. Those marks drop to .328 wOBA and a .259 batting average against fastballs 95 mph and above. That’s basically league average for the International League on both counts. He’s hit offspeed stuff much better than that league’s average, but is still struggling a bit with breaking balls.

All in all, the makings of a decent platoon bat with some power, but nothing to make one thing that he’s really figured anything out. His Triple-A numbers are pretty similar to the player he’s replacing, Bligh Madris.

Now it’s certainly true that the 28-year-old Madris isn’t an answer at first base either. He’s been almost league average as a hitter, and a better defender than Torkelson, producing 0.3 fWAR in 21 games with the Tigers. Torkelson himself holds a career mark of just negative 0.3 overall.

So, no nothing has clicked, and no real obvious changes have been made to Torkelson’s swing. He’s worked on using his lower half better in the batter’s box and trying to cover the outer half of the plate more effectively. There’s been some success there in taking those pitches the other way and he’s clearly trying to adjust his bat path without making any radical changes to his setup, hand position and load. But without showing the ability to do that and still hit for a lot of power, this feels as much like a psychology experiment to see if a return to the majors can spark him. Either way, it’s a chance for Torkelson to change the front office’s mind about him heading into the offseason than a promotion on pure merit. He would do well to show something they can believe in.

Madris isn’t a long-term answer at the first base position either in my opinion, so there’s no real reason not to see if Torkelson can get some traction. There just isn’t much reason to believe anything is going to change without some aggressive offseason work to re-make his swing, improve his timing, and generally stop falling back on what has always worked for him since his prodigious college career.

Still, if this helps prove things to the Tigers one way or the other, freeing them up to make decisions to really improve this offense in the offseason, we’re all for it.