The Detroit Tigers have hit a bump in the road regarding the franchise’s future plans.
Former first overall pick Spencer Torkelson, the team’s primary first baseman since 2022, was demoted to Triple-A Toledo after pronounced struggles through the first two months of the season.
Torkelson, coming off a 31-home run campaign in 2023, hit .201 with four homers in 209 plate appearances and had a .597 OPS while also being worth minus-5 defensive runs saved at first base. His all-around struggles led to minus-1.2 wins above replacement (WAR) accumulated in 54 appearances.
WAR, a stat that measures a player’s impact on winning compared to a replacement-level player at a respective position, places Torkelson below replacement level at first base this season and throughout his three-year career.
BEEN THERE BEFORE:Mark Canha understands Spencer Torkelson, ready to help at first base
While it is trending in the wrong direction, Torkelson could still contribute in the big leagues. There is a long list of examples of players who were optioned to the minors after early struggles only to return as an improved player, such as former Tiger pitcher Max Scherzer going to Toledo in 2010, and Detroit hopes adjustments in the minors will add Torkelson to the successes.
But if it doesn’t work out, Torkelson will go down as one of the biggest busts in Tigers and Detroit sports history after he was selected No. 1 overall in 2020 with hype heading into the draft. Here is a list of names he could join as Tigers’ draft whiffs the last three decades, as well as some hits by Detroit to cleanse the palette.
Tigers draft misses
Here is the list of first-rounders drafted by Detroit since 1994 who never made the MLB (outside of recent picks still in the minors): RHP Cade Gaspar (1994), RHP Mike Dumright (1995), RHP Matt Wheatland (2000), 2B Michael Woods (2001), RHP Kenny Baugh (2001), RHP Kyle Sleeth (2003), RHP Brandon Hamilton (2007), RHP Jonathon Crawford (2013).
Here’s a look at five players who made the majors in that time but still didn’t amount to a replacement level player in terms of WAR.
Matt Anderson
Career WAR: Minus-0.6
Anderson, a right-handed reliever, was the Tigers’ most recent first overall pick in 1997 before landing two top picks in three years between 2018 and 2020. Anderson made his MLB debut in 1998 in Detroit’s bullpen and posted a 3.27 ERA and 44 strikeouts in 44 innings pitched. His ERA continued to creep up, jumping to 5.68 in 1999 and remained above 4.70 for the rest of his career, which lasted until 2005. He appeared in 205 career games with the Tigers, finishing with a 4.89 ERA and 1.528 WHIP in Detroit.
Eric Munson
Career WAR: Minus-1.4
Munson was the third overall pick of the 1999 draft and played five of nine seasons of his MLB career with Detroit. Munson briefly played for the Tigers in the 2000-02 seasons, never playing more than 18 games, before becoming a full-time player in 2003. He combined for a .226 average and .744 OPS with 37 home runs and 99 RBIs as a full-time player from 2003-04. He then hit free agency and bounced around until retiring in 2009.
Scott Moore
Career WAR: minus-0.8
Moore, a high school infielder, was the eighth pick in 2002 and never played for the Tigers in his five-year MLB career. Moore was traded as a prospect to the Cubs in 2005 for Kyle Farnsworth, a bullpen arm who appeared in 46 games for the Tigers in the '05 season before being flipped to the Braves. Moore made his MLB debut for Chicago in 2006 but never became an everyday MLB player and retired after playing for the Astros in 2012.
Jacob Turner
Career WAR: Minus-2.6
Turner wasn’t a success story on the field after he was selected ninth overall in the 2009 draft, but he helped facilitate a successful Tigers trade. Turner debuted as a starter in 2011 with three starts and an 8.53 ERA. He made three starts in 2012 before he was flipped at the trade deadline to the Marlins in a deal for Omar Infante and Aníbal Sánchez. Turner was a starter until his MLB career ended in 2018 after giving up seven runs in one inning in a return to the Tigers.
Christin Stewart
Career WAR: Minus-1.2
Stewart, the 34th pick in 2015 (compensatory round), played three seasons for the Tigers between 2018-20, constituting the entirety of his MLB career. Stewart was pulled up for 17 games in 2018 and showed some promise at the plate, hitting .267 with a .792 OPS in 60 at-bats, and was a full-time player in 2019 and the shortened 2020 season. In 2019, he finished with a .233 average and .693 OPS with 10 home runs and 40 RBIs. In 36 games in 2020, he hit .197 with a .524 OPS and finished a minor leaguer until he stopped playing in 2022.
Tigers draft hits
The Tigers have a highly-ranked farm system now in part due to initial returns on the top picks since Torkelson (Jackson Jobe, Jace Jung and Max Clark) and have had some historical hits mixed in with the misses in the last 30 years of the first round, plus early signs of star potential in 2019 first-rounder Riley Greene.
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Jeff Weaver
Career WAR: 15.2
Weaver, a right-handed pitcher and the 14th pick in 1998, put together an 11-year MLB career that started with three-plus seasons in Detroit. He started 29 games as a rookie, finishing with a 9-12 record and 5.55 ERA. He pitched over 200 innings in the Tigers’ rotation from 2000-01, posting over a 4.00 ERA each season, then was traded in 2002 after a strong start to the season in a three-team deal in exchange for Carlos Peña and Jeremy Bonderman. Weaver pitched until 2010 and started in the 2006 World Series against the Tigers for the Cardinals.
Justin Verlander
Career WAR: 81.7 (active)
Verlander, the second pick in 2004, is the only Cooperstown guarantee in Detroit’s first round past the last three decades. A Rookie of the Year, three-time Cy Young Award winner, league MVP, pitching Triple Crown winner, two-time World Series Champion and a face of the Tigers’ most successful period of the 21st century: Verlander’s resumé speaks for itself.
Cameron Maybin and Andrew Miller
Career WAR: 13.5 (Maybin) and 7.8 (Miller)
Miller and Maybin get lumped together here because both were top-10 picks by Detroit who played sparingly for the Tigers and then were packaged in a deal with the Marlins to bring Miguel Cabrera to Detroit. Maybin played 24 games for the Tigers then enjoyed a 15-year career as an outfielder, and returned to Detroit for brief stints in 2016 and 2020. Miller made 21 relief appearances for Detroit from 2006-07 before the trade and had a 16-year career as a high-leverage reliever that moved around contending teams.
Rick Porcello
Career WAR: 18.8
Porcello, drafted 27th in 2007 out of high school, became a solid rotation option for the Tigers between 2009-14 before he was traded for Yoenis Céspedes. Porcello started 180 games for Detroit and threw 1,073⅓ innings and had a 4.30 ERA. Porcello pitched until 2020 and won the 2016 AL Cy Young Award with Boston over his ex-teammate Verlander.
Nick Castellanos
Career WAR: 13.7 (active)
Castellanos, the 44th pick in 2010 (supplemental pick), became the Tigers’ starting third baseman by age 22 in 2014. He played seven seasons in Detroit, eventually moving to the outfield, before he was traded to the Cubs in a deal that brought Alex Lange to the Tigers. Castellanos appeared in 837 games for Detroit, hitting .274 with a .783 OPS, 104 home runs and 424 RBIs. Castellanos is still a key bat for the Phillies, the best team in baseball so far in 2024, and has made two All-Star appearances since leaving Detroit.
