Sun Devils slugger Torkelson is top pick

NEW YORK » The Detroit Tigers selected Arizona State slugger Spencer Torkelson with the No. 1 pick June 10 in the Major League Baseball amateur draft.

The baseball-bashing Torkelson was long considered the favorite to go first overall. The surprise came when he was announced as a third baseman by Commissioner Rob Manfred, rather than a first baseman.

Detroit plans to move Torkelson to the hot corner from first base, where he played in college.

“It shows the amount of respect they have for me as an athlete,” a smiling Torkelson said in an interview during MLB Network’s broadcast. “I’ll take it and run with it. I like to label myself as a baseball player, and you give me a bat, a ball and a glove, and you know what? I’m just going to want to win.”

After having the majors’ worst record last season, Detroit opened the draft for the second time in three years. The Tigers took Auburn right-hander Casey Mize in 2018, and now they’ve got a powerful bat that could anchor their lineup for years to come to go along with an arm they hope is a future ace.

This year’s draft was originally scheduled to be held for the first time in Omaha, Nebraska, as a leadin to the College World Series. Instead, the coronavirus pandemic caused baseball to make some drastic changes, including holding the draft as a remote event — much like the NFL did in April — and shortening it from three days with 40 rounds to just two days and five rounds.

Manfred announced the first-round selections, as he has done since taking over for Bud Selig in 2015. Manfred also addressed racial injustice and the recent protests that have taken place all around the country and the world. All 30 team representatives, operating remotely, held up signs at the beginning of the broadcast that read: “Black Lives Matter. United For Change.”

The shortened college and high school baseball seasons presented unique challenges for big league scouting departments, which had to rely more on videos of players instead of attending games to help with their evaluations.