Angst over Spencer Torkelson in the fanbase reached a fever pitch around May 31 of last year, when Riley Greene went down with what was initially feared to be a stress fracture of his fibula. Eduardo Rodriguez hit the injured list with a ruptured ligament in his finger. Kerry Carpenter was still weeks from returning to action. The Detroit Tigers season went into a death spiral as they lost nine games in a row.
After an unnerving rookie season where Torkelson looked somewhat overmatched for a highly touted first baseman, he hit a combined four home runs with a .