Tigers Skipper A.J. Hinch Provides Tremendous Injury Update on Star Slugger
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The Detroit Tigers may have dodged a major bullet which was thrown their way in spring training this week.
Reports surfaced on Tuesday that star first baseman Spencer Torkelson was injured after being hit by a fastball in the right forearm from Burch Smith and was removed from the simulated game in Lakeland as a result.
Detroit manager A.J. Hinch provided an update on Wednesday and sounded positive that Torkelson would be okay.
Torkelson Avoided 'Major' Injury for Tigers, Hinch Says
"It was scary," Hinch recalled via Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press. "It's going to happen, whether it's a game or a practice game. From what I know, from afar, we've avoided anything major...Tork got evaluated and got tests done, and everything came back as a contusion, so that's a good sign...I know Burch felt terrible that the pitch got away from him."
Hearing the word contusion here rather than any sort of broken bone is a major relief for Detroit fans who instantly panicked when the news surfaced that he had indeed been injured. Coming off his breakout 2025 campaign, Torkelson has proven to be one of the most critical players in the lineup.
Him missing any significant amount of time -- especially at the start of the year which the team played so well in last year -- would be a crushing blow, however it sounds like that is not going to be the case here.
Torkelson will likely continue to be evaluated as team doctors make the best call on how to proceed, but it seems his spring will not see serious interruption with Opening Day now just two weeks away.
Tigers Need Another Great Season from Torkelson
Though like virtually everyone else on offense Torkelson suffered a second half decline, 2025 was a massive year for him after such an ugly stretch the year prior. He finished the campaign slashing .240/.333/.456 with 31 home runs and 78 RBI for a 2.3 bWAR in 155 games played.
Changing up his approach to draw more walks and cut down on the strikeouts a bit, the slugger was everything Detroit hoped he could be and more. If he can continue to take steps to improve even further, Torkelson could have All-Star potential in 2026.
In order to do that, he will have to be healthy though. By the sounds of it, he is going to be just fine in that area.
Michael Brauner is a 2022 graduate of the University of Alabama with a degree in Sports Media. He covers various MLB teams across the On SI network and you can also find his work on Yellowhammer News covering the Alabama Crimson Tide and Auburn Tigers as well as on the radio producing and co-hosting 'The Opening Kickoff' every weekday morning on 105.5 WNSP FM in Mobile, Alabama.