When the Detroit Tigers selected Arizona State third baseman Spencer Torkelson with the No. 1 pick in the 2020 MLB draft, nobody was surprised. This has been expected for the 6-foot-1, 220-pound junior slugger, as one draft analyst called him a 98% lock for the top spot . He hit 54 home runs in two-plus seasons with the Sun Devils and fills a key organizational need for the Tigers. Even though Torkelson entered the draft as a first baseman, Tigers general manager Al Avila said the goal is to make him a career third baseman . "Our scouts strongly feel he can play third base, and that's our intent at this point," Avila said on ESPN . "I can tell you that all of us in the organization, we're just absolutely thrilled to have the opportunity to select Spencer Torkelson in the first round. He's exactly the type of player we hoped would be there for us to get with the top pick. Obviously, one of the most productive hitters in college history." Draft expert Kiley McDaniel and analysts Eduardo Perez and Chris Burke shared their thoughts about the pick. "There's a lot of guys in the minors, a lot of guys in this draft, with this type of raw power. The difference is he's an underrated athlete. He can play left and right field. As we heard, he's going to probably play some third base, similar to Vlad (Guerrero) Jr. The difference is the hit and pitch selection is the thing that separates him from (those) with big power that hit .230 and strikes out too much." "The bat works, and that's one thing that we love about Spencer Torkelson, and the Detroit Tigers also. Quick hands, through the zone, drives horizontally before he even spins on the baseball. This is a guy that uses his entire leverage, but his hands are so strong that he's able to stay up the middle on the field, and he knows that he can drive the baseball from foul pole to foul pole. This is a perfect pick, a guy that played high school baseball as a third baseman and now understands perfectly what he has to do at the pro level." "That's the only surprise here with Torkelson, not necessarily that he's going No. 1, but that they announced him as a third baseman. He played this summer for Dan McDonald, a coach here at the University of Louisville. McDonald is known as an infield guy, so Major League Baseball takes a lot away in his evaluation. McDonald came away from that summer raving about Torkelson's feet, his ability to transfer the baseball quickly on double-play turns and his throwing accuracy. He told scouts, when they left that summer, that not only is he potentially an elite first baseman, but he thinks he can play third, so you know you have big-time power but also defensive versatility." Evan Petzold is a sports reporting intern at the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @EvanPetzold .