Though Spencer Torkelson may not admit it, he had to know there was a pretty good chance that he would be selected by the Detroit Tigers with the No. 1 pick in the 2020 MLB Draft. But what he did not know is that when he was announced, that he would be announced as a third baseman.
In fact, Torkelson said that the moment he knew he was changing from 1B to 3B was when MLB commissioner Rob Manfred announced him as a third baseman when he was drafted on Wednesday night.
Via MLive:
“I found out when the commissioner said, ‘Spencer Torkelson, third base,'” he said.
“The draft is crazy. It’s so unpredictable. You just never know. You’re going to have some doubt,” Torkelson said in a conference call with media Thursday. “(The Tigers) didn’t call me before the pick. That scared the living crap out of me. But (hearing my name called) was literally the best feeling ever. I can’t even describe it.”
As far as switching to third base, Torkelson is more than willing to do whatever helps the team win.
“As a baseball player, whether it’s third, left, first base, second base, you’re there to win and you’re going to get the job done,” Torkelson said.
Torkelson says that “Pressure is a privilege. That pressure, or whatever you want to call it, it drives me. It makes me work harder. I don’t let it faze me.”
https://twitter.com/BradGalli/status/1271144230136799236
Whether Torkelson ends up at third base or back at first base, one thing is for sure, it will not affect his ability to drive balls out of the ballpark on a regular basis.
