In this week’s Detroit Tigers notes, we take a look at Spencer Torkelson, who hit his first home run of the spring on Saturday, position battles left in camp, and a familiar face in the radio booth for 2023.

Spencer Torkelson continues to dial in

There has been a lot of data out there this spring on how hard Spencer Torkelson has been hitting the ball. Brandon Day of Bless You Boys on his most recent player profile, pointed out the positive signs of Torkelson that are heading in the right direction this spring. He has been hitting the ball not only extremely hard, but he is doing one thing so far he had struggles with, and that is hitting fastballs.

Spencer Torkelson is not only hitting the ball hard, but he has been aggressive early in counts and hitting mistakes. pic.twitter.com/DKZIcSzX5G

— Rogelio Castillo (@rogcastbaseball) March 19, 2023

He’s hitting pitches down the middle of the zone, something he struggled with in 2022. His swing through the zone, the follow through is much more balanced. If he can continue to hit spin, Torkelson will be able to hit for more power, something the Tigers lacked big time in 2022.

Spencer Torkelson June 26, 2022 on the left off an 87.6 MPH slider that hung up the and him earlier in the week, slider that was thrown at 95MPH.

The completion of the swinging motion looks much more balanced from my amateur point of view. pic.twitter.com/bQoZzjTspE

— Rogelio Castillo (@rogcastbaseball) March 19, 2023

The Tigers radio booth is set for 2023

For 2023, Tigers radio announcer Dan Dickerson will have a familiar face with him in the booth. Former Tigers outfielder Cameron Maybin, who joined the Bally Sports Detroit crew, will join Dickerson for 30 games on the road this season. Bobby Scales, the former University of Michigan baseball player, will also join him on the road. The former second baseman is a Southfield, Michigan native who played with the Cubs and Japan. After his baseball career was over, Scales worked in player personal with the Angels and the Pirates.

Tigers Positional Battles left in camp

Manager A.J. Hinch has indicated he wanted to have a team who could play multiple positions. With César Hernández starting at third on Sunday against the Nationals, it appears that he wants to see where else he can place Hernández. Jonathan Schoop has hit just .182/.250/.364 in limited action as he was playing for the Netherlands in the World Baseball Classic.

For the outfield, Kerry Carpenter and Akil Baddoo are fighting out for the fourth outfield position. We will be discussing these more in depth this week as we get ready for Opening Day on March 30th against the Rays.