Torkelson and Greene headed to Triple-A
Detroit Tigers manager AJ Hinch has made it perfectly clear that top prospects Spencer Torkelson and Riley Greene will not be making their Major League Baseball debuts this season. The team would like to see the youngsters spend some more time in the minor leagues to develop their skills prior to being called up to the big leagues.
On Sunday though, both prospects were promoted to Triple-A from Double-A.
“There’s been considered to keep them in Double-A,” Hinch said Sunday morning before the promotions were announced, via Yahoo News. “There’s also an argument for giving them an uncomfortable setting of something new. I don’t think any decision has been made on whether that next step to Toledo is going to happen. But they’re doing great at developing and learning how to play every single day.
“They’re exciting prospects that are going to wear a big-league uniform, hopefully soon. We have to keep in mind the true development track has them continuing with success and not responding too quickly to moving them.”
The Tigers currently sit in third place in the American League Central division and are not in contention for a playoff spot this year. Despite the Tigers’ struggle to compete with division leaders the Chicago White Sox, Hinch believes that prospects cannot be rushed to MLB.
“Any time a big-time prospect has a good week or a good game or a good stretch, there’s always this curiosity on whether or not they need to be challenged with the next level,” Hinch said. “It’s easy to lump all these guys together. What we need to do is single them out and decide what’s best for their track to Detroit.”
Greene was selected out of high school with the number five overall pick in the 2019 MLB Draft, while Torkelson was drafted with the number one overall pick in last year’s MLB Draft. Both have looked fantastic with Double-A side Erie after they both competed in this year’s spring training with the Tigers.
Greene and Torkelson will now be playing Triple-A in Toledo.
“I don’t think there’s an exact science,” Hinch said about moving the two prospects to Tiple-A. “You can’t predict how things are going to be. You call them up, and they get off to a really hot start, then you kept them down there too long. You call them up and they get off to a dry spell and they’re not very good early, then you rushed them. There’s no perfect way to predict exactly how they’re going to respond or what the right time is.”
It hasn’t been an easy campaign for either Greene or Torkelson considering how they’ve been moved around and forced to adjust, but it is part of the process of becoming a Major League player. It remains to be seen when we will see the two highly talked about prospects with the Tigers, but it will likely be next year at some point. In the meantime, fans of the team just have to be patient and trust that the process is working.
