00:00Hey Tigers fans, Spencer Torkelson is riding a power surge we haven't witnessed in a decade,
00:06and it's bringing back shades of his college dominance at Arizona State, but this hot streak
00:10is unfolding in a very different way. Let's dive into what's fueling Torque's four-game home run
00:15tear, why it feels like a turning point, and what it means for the team as he chases a piece
00:20of
00:20Detroit history. The last time Spencer Torkelson was on a roll like this, he was at peak torque
00:25phenom at Arizona State. He had a lot of homer streaks as a Sun Devil but he homered in four
00:30straight games near the end of his sophomore season, a 23 homer 66 RBI campaign in 2019 that
00:37powered him to the front of the MLB draft prospect list for 2020. This is different. Beyond the obvious
00:44differences in the college game, Torkelson started out hot and stayed hot in 2019. This year Torkelson
00:50went homerless in his first 23 games and was batting just 186 in that stretch. A slow start
00:58that, combined with Dylan Dingler's hot start, led to Torkelson's drop to the bottom third of the
01:04lineup. Torkelson's home run Wednesday at Comerica Park off Milwaukee's Chad Patrick was his first since
01:11last September 20. He has homered in every game since, a four-game streak that stands as the longest
01:16by a Tiger in a decade. His latest homer, a stat cast projected 395-foot drive off Reds starter Brady
01:23Singer, went out to right center, where Torkelson tries to hit everything when he's on. It wasn't
01:28enough to lift the Tigers out of the hole the Reds built for them by jumping struggling starter Jack
01:32Flaherty for six runs in two innings in a 9-2 defeat. It was still enough to force a Reds
01:37pitching
01:37adjustment. The patient Torkelson who grinded out at bats and waited diligently for his pitch early in the
01:43season has given way to a more aggressive Torkelson. He's still selective, still rarely chasing pitches
01:49out of the strike zone, but now he's hunting fastballs and attacking them regardless of count.
01:55Torkelson entered Saturday having put the first pitch of an at-bat in play just twice all season,
02:00both for outs. He was also 0-7 against Singer since 2022 when Singer was still a division rival with
02:08Kansas City. Torkelson hit a comebacker for an out in his first at-bat Saturday, but when Singer left
02:13a 91 MPH sinker over the heart of the plate to begin his second at-bat, Torkelson pounced.
02:19I like that he's been a tick more aggressive in recent days, manager A.J. Hinch said before the game,
02:25and maybe that comes with success a little bit. I think it's not a whole philosophical change.
02:34Indeed, Torkelson said, he hasn't overhauled his approach. I'm hunting my pitch, he said before the
02:39game. I feel like for the most part, if I'm not swinging at the first pitch, it's probably a
02:44pitcher's pitch, and I don't want to get myself out on a pitcher's pitch.
02:52No crazy adjustment. Swing on time, hunt my pitch and put my swing on it, that's it.
02:58All four of Torkelson's home runs this season have been on fastballs, he entered Saturday averaging a
03:0493.6 MPH exit velocity, against fastballs, his highest average since his 31-homer season of 2023.
03:12As soon as you feel it once, your brain's crazy, it just likes to repeat it, Torkelson said.
03:18Not since Ian Kinsler's 28-homer, 5.6 BWAR season in 2016, had a Tiger homered in four consecutive games,
03:26Kinsler was already hitting well before his streak began, batting .295 with six homers and
03:32seven doubles in his first 35 games. Kinsler went on a tear from there, including another streak of
03:38three games with a homer a month later. Kinsler's streak couldn't have come at a better time for the
03:432016 Tigers, who had lost 11 of 12 before Kinsler's role helped them salvage a win in Baltimore,
03:49and then sweep the Twins, in Detroit.
03:51The frustrating part of Torkelson's role is that the Tigers have struggled to take advantage of it
03:56the past two nights. His home run Friday off Reds reliever Tony Santelon helped spark an eighth-inning
04:03comeback that had Detroit, an out, away from a win, before Nathaniel Lowe's walk-off homer off
04:09Kenley Jansen. Saturday saw the Tigers face a five-run deficit before Torkelson's homer,
04:14and Detroit, didn't score again. Once Torkelson came back up with a runner on first and the sixth,
04:19the Reds pulled singer for slider specialist Connor Phillips, who fanned Torkelson on three sweepers.
04:25Torkelson will step to the plate Sunday with a chance to match the franchise record homerun streak
04:29of five games, a feat shared by such greats as Hank Greenberg, Sept 10-14-1940, Willie Horton,
04:37Aug 29 Scepter 1-1969, Rudy York, Aug 22-25-1937, and Vic Wirtz, July 27th, Aug 1-1950.
04:47Marcus Thames was the last to do it, homering six times in a five-game span from June 13, 17,
04:542008. White Sox slugger Munitaka Murakami has the longest home-run streak in the majors this season,
05:00with five games. So, Tigers fans, can Torkelson tie that legendary franchise mark on Sunday,
05:06and will his power surge finally translate into wins for Detroit? What do you think?
05:10Are we watching the true breakout we've been waiting for?
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