06/29/2023 2:05pm EDT Detroit Tigers vs Texas Rangers

[gehringer_2]

2 hours ago, Tigermojo said:

Tork was interviewed after the game and he said he followed Miggy's advice to "trust his hands". Sounds like he's a guy who really needs to keep it simple and use his natural ability rather than overthinking things. The coaches should point out if he's falling into bad habits but definitely keep it simple.

Maybe a little counter intuitive take here - but in June his OBP was nice with walks and singles to right, but he was looking for more ISO. He moved closer to the plate to turn on more pitches, but I think he got a little too close - he was was windmilling on inside pitches, lots of pop-ups and misses, then the last couple of days I'm pretty sure he made an adjustment to his adjustment - backed off a little bit, and bingo - found the the sweet spot and put a few in the seats. The pitchers are going to adjust again - but Torkelson now seems willing to keep responding with his own adjustments maybe in a way he wasn't last year. If he has the talent, then he'll get better at making his adjustments, they'll come faster, the adjustment slumps will be shorter, he'll know how to get in and out of different approaches as part of his toolbox. But the thing that makes me optimisitc is that he is showing a lot of different tools. He can work a walk, last month he was showing a good approach to RF, now he's pulling screamers down the LF line into the seats. If he gets to where he can combine it all together, we might have a pretty nice hitter.

[casimir]

9 hours ago, Tigermojo said:

Tork was interviewed after the game and he said he followed Miggy's advice to "trust his hands". Sounds like he's a guy who really needs to keep it simple and use his natural ability rather than overthinking things. The coaches should point out if he's falling into bad habits but definitely keep it simple.

 

8 hours ago, gehringer_2 said:

Absolutely this. When a hitter has natural ability, get the hell out of his way and let him use it.

I suspect a bit of the struggles he has had are due to maybe going through any struggles for the first time and trying to figure out that process of getting through it.  We know how well he did at ASU and in his short stint in the minors before his debut.  When he was demoted to Toledo, he still struggled for a time.  I suppose that could indicate a physical adjustment that took some time, but I wonder if he was simply fighting with himself a bit.