DETROIT — A few weeks back, Detroit Tigers manager A.J. Hinch talked about the challenge ahead for Tarik Skubal. When you’ve proved you can be one of the game’s best starting pitchers, what happens next?
“That’s a great question,” Hinch said, “because part of our job is to continue to challenge him.”
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As Skubal’s profile grows, Hinch foresaw and can still foresee the adjustments ahead. Opponents will stack their lineups against Skubal. Pregame hitters’ meetings will center on finding ways to expose his weaknesses. As his slider buckles knees and his changeup bends the air, hitters at this level will not simply shy away. They will search for solutions. Skubal, Hinch said, would have to keep adjusting. Pitching different ways, beating opponents with different assets.
“It’s one thing to pitch when you sort of have upside,” Hinch said. “There’s another thing to pitch when you have expectations. There’s another thing to pitch when the entire league is talking about you. If Tarik just stacks good outing after good outing after good outing, the numbers will take care of itself, the exposure will get there, the conversation will happen, and we’re gonna win a lot of games because the day that he pitches is a day we expect to win.”
That was May 17. Five days later, Skubal had his worst start of the year, when the Kansas City Royals struck for four runs over Skubal’s five innings.
In the three starts since, Skubal has arguably been better than ever.
Tarik Skubal has only allowed 20 ER in his last 18 starts dating back to September 2023. https://t.co/Z5vRrW1GdY
— MLB Stats (@MLBStats) June 9, 2024
After his latest gem in Sunday’s 10-2 win against the first-place Milwaukee Brewers, Skubal is the owner of an 8-1 record. The Tigers are 10-3 in games he pitches. Now 32-33 and very much alive in the wild-card standings, Skubal has been a saving grace for the Tigers. There is a different aura in the air on days he pitches. “Find me a day,” Hinch said, “when Tarik is pitching when the intensity is not dialed up to whatever the top level is, and that’ll be a first.”
And with every start, Skubal is laying a stronger and stronger claim to a lofty title: the best starting pitcher in baseball.
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“Where he fits in the big scheme of things, I have no idea,” Hinch said. “He’s built to do anything and everything in this game.”
The latest feats from Skubal: He came out of the gates firing Sunday, striking out the side in the first inning on 11 pitches.
By his 39th pitch of the day, he was rearing back to throw an 0-2 elevated fastball. Rhys Hoskins somehow fouled the pitch off, but the radar registered 101.7 mph. Skubal immediately looked to the dugout. Hinch immediately looked to pitching coach Chris Fetter. The radar reading was legitimate. It went down as the hardest pitch of Skubal’s career. It tied Bruce Rondon for the fastest pitch from a Tigers pitcher in the Statcast era. And it put Skubal second to only Paul Skenes for the fastest pitch thrown by an MLB starting pitcher this season. That was the only time Skubal touched triple digits on the day, but it was a reminder of how there could somehow be even more in the big left-hander’s tank.
“I’ll take it,” Skubal said afterward. “I was surprised, as well, but yeah, I’ll take it.”
Tarik Skubal 102 MPH 😳 pic.twitter.com/rc3mJNLoS2
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) June 9, 2024
Skubal on Sunday was his usual self. The changeup and slider were electric. A contact-oriented Brewers lineup that swung-and-missed only once Saturday against Casey Mize whiffed 17 times against Skubal.
“This is a team across the way that doesn’t swing-and-miss a ton,” Hinch said. “They don’t chase a ton. They did both of that today. He overwhelmed them. He’s overwhelmed a lot of the competition.”
In the fourth inning, Skubal grew animated on the mound after back-to-back walks and a few borderline calls that went against him. The intensity set in, but the Tigers escaped the inning without damage when Riley Greene made a diving catch in left field.
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“Just him on the mound, his antics, the things he does on the mound, his attitude, it’s incredible,” Greene said. “It just kind of fires us up and gives us momentum.”
Skubal was otherwise smooth and efficient. He struck out 10 and allowed one earned run over 6 2/3 innings. His ERA lowered to 1.92, the lowest from a Tigers pitcher over the first 13 starts of a season since Al Benton and Hal Newhouser in 1945.
“Cool stat,” Skubal said, “but I like winning more than I like ERA.”
Skubal walked off the field Sunday to a standing ovation from a home crowd well aware of what they were watching. Skubal starts have become must-see events, a dominant pitcher at the top of his game repeating the results every time out. Skubal is transforming from Cy Young Award candidate to Cy Young Award front-runner. The accolades and fun historical facts are going to keep coming.
But this is the big leagues, and the challenges are going to keep coming, too.
Right now, Skubal seems equipped to handle whatever comes his way.
“It’s cool,” he said. “But we’re what, 13 starts into it? Let’s talk maybe after 30.”
(Photo: Duane Burleson / Getty Images)