The Detroit Tigers selected Arizona State junior infielder Spencer Torkelson with the first pick in the Major League Baseball draft on Wednesday.
Primarily a first baseman in college, the Tigers designated Torkelson as a third baseman.
The most recent time a third baseman was selected No. 1 overall was 1992, when the Houston Astros selected Cal State Fullerton’s Phil Nevin first.
The only first basemen who topped the draft were Ron Blomberg (1967) and Adrian Gonzalez (2000), both left-handed hitters. Torkelson is a right-handed hitter.
Torkelson, 20, had a .340 average, six homers and 11 RBIs in 17 games during the 2020 season, which was abbreviated due to the coronavirus pandemic. He didn’t play at third base in 2020.
In three college seasons overall, he produced a .337 batting average, a .463 on-base percentage, a .729 slugging percentage, 54 homers and 130 RBIs in 129 games.
He became the fourth No. 1 overall pick from Arizona State, joining outfielder Rick Monday (1965), left-handed pitcher Floyd Bannister (1976) and third baseman Bob Horner (1978).
The Tigers made the No. 1 overall pick for the second time in three years, having selected Auburn right-hander Casey Mize to open the 2018 draft. The only other time Detroit had the No. 1 selection, they selected Rice right-hander Matt Anderson in 1997. Anderson had a mediocre seven-year career in the majors, mostly as a middle reliever.
Commissioner Rod Manfred opened the draft broadcast with a speech in which he vowed that baseball would help spark positive change in light of protests over racism following the deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and others.
The broadcast then cut to shots of all of the team executives set to make the draft picks, each holding up a sign that read, “Black Lives Matter. United for Change.”