The Detroit Tigers selected a major part of their future with the 1st overall pick in the 2020 MLB Draft, taking former Arizona State 1B Spencer Torkelson.
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And while he played 1st base in college, plenty of scouts have envisioned him playing elsewhere in the infield, and shortly after the selection, Tigers GM Al Avila confirmed the team envisioned him playing 3rd base.
“We know he can play first, but our scouts strongly feel that he can play third base,” Tigers general manager Al Avila said. “That’s our intent at this point.”
Torkelson envisions himself getting to where he needs to be to be a quality third baseman. Of course, with his work ethic, it shouldn’t be too much trouble.
“Give me a couple more in-game groundballs and some more repetition and practice and I’m right there with the best of them, I believe,” he said. “I played three years in college at first, so I was a 10 out of 10 there. At third base, I’m probably an 8 out of 10 right now, but I’m working hard to be a 10 out of 10.
Of course, Torkelson prides himself in being a good person above all else, and had an interesting story about what his former trainer at ASU believed would eventually be on his tombstone.
“I pride myself on being a great person before anything else,” he said. “My trainer at ASU always said, ‘You’re tombstone is not going to stay ‘stud baseball player or stud athlete’ with your career stats on your headstone. It’s going to say, ‘Family man, great person, friendly, funny.’ Stuff like that. I took that to heart. Life isn’t about hitting home runs. It’s about being a good person and making an impact on other people and having fun.”
Tigers fans, how much are you looking forward to soon seeing Torkelson in Detroit’s infield?
– – Quotes via Evan Woodbery of MLive Link – –
