Spencer Torkelson
Spencer Enochs Torkelson is an American baseball first baseman and third baseman in the Detroit Tigers organization. Torkelson was selected first overall by the Tigers in the 2020 Major League Baseball draft.Career
Torkelson attended Casa Grande High School in Petaluma, California, where he played baseball, football and basketball. During his high school baseball career, he hit.430 with 11 home runs and 99 runs batted in. He committed to Arizona State to play college baseball.
As a freshman at Arizona State, Torkelson batted.320/.440/.743 with 25 home runs and 53 RBIs over 55 games. The 25 home runs led the nation, set a Pac-12 record for home runs by a freshman, and also broke Barry Bonds' school record for home runs by a freshman. He was named the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper Freshman of the Year, National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association National Freshman Hitter of the Year and the Pac-12 Freshman of the Year. After the season, he played for the United States collegiate national team. As a sophomore, Torkelson joined Bob Horner as the only Arizona State players to hit 20 home runs for consecutive seasons. After the 2018 and 2019 seasons, he played collegiate summer baseball for the Chatham Anglers of the Cape Cod Baseball League. As a junior, Torkelson hit six home runs in a COVID-19 shortened season, giving him 53 for his ASU career, just three shy of ASU's career record.
Torkelson was selected by the Detroit Tigers with the first overall pick in the 2020 Major League Baseball draft. On June 30, 2020, he signed with the Tigers for $8,416,300, the highest signing bonus awarded in MLB draft history. The same day, he was added to the Tigers' 60-man player pool.
