Skubal is the son of Russ and Laura Skubal. And he has older siblings named Trent, Tyler, and Wil Jones, as well as a younger sibling named Treyvor.

Tarik was a star for Kingman Academy in Arizona, leading the Tigers to three playoff appearances, including the state championship in 2012 and 2013. He was named CAA playoff MVP during both title runs as well as CAA state player of the year in 2013. He pitched a perfect game during the first game of the 2014 playoffs.

Skubal did not know much about the Pacific Northwest when Seattle University came calling.

“They saw me throw in one of the fall classics in high school, and that was my only Division I offer,” Skubal said. “So I took it.”

As a freshman at Seattle, Skubal was excellent. He posted a 7-4, 3.24 record. He had Tommy John surgery and took a redshirt in 2017 in what would have been his junior year.

Still, he was drafted by the D-backs in the 29th round that June but didn't sign.

2019 Season: Skubal, 22, emerged as one of the 2018 draft’s biggest steals in his first full season while climbing to Double-A Erie, where he racked up 82 strikeouts in 42 innings behind double-digit strikeout performances in six of his nine starts.

He finished the year with a 2.42 ERA and 1.01 WHIP in 122.2 innings (24 starts) between two levels and ranked third in the Minors with 179 strikeouts. He also was named the Tigers MLB Pipeline Pitcher of the Year.

In 2020, the Baseball America Prospect Handbook rated Tarik as the third-best prospect in the Tigers' organization. He moved up to #2, behind only Spencer Torkelson. in the spring of 2021.

Spring Training 2020: Every time Tarik pitches in a game, he goes to his phone later. It's not for text messages or games. It's to take notes. 

"I keep a little note on my phone of outings, good or bad," Skubal said. "And then going into bullpen [sessions], I'll re-read it if I'm trying to work on something or I didn't like something from my outing. That way, I'm never just wasting a day. I feel like you can't get those days back.

"It's funny, because eventually you read them all and it's like a lot of the same things you're working with are consistent through all of them. That's just all lack of focus, I think."

Skubal has learned focus from his battle back from Tommy John surgery at Seattle University to his rapid rise up the Tigers' farm system in 2019. He ranks as the club's No. 4 prospect in 2020 and likes to waste time about as much as he likes to waste pitches.  "Every throw is valuable," Skubal said, from playing catch to pitching in a game.

A year ago, he was a big left-hander in Minor League camp converting back to starting after nine relief appearances in 2018, none above Class A West Michigan. On March 1, 2020, he was again the talk of Tigers camp, this time dominating a Red Sox lineup that didn't include many stars but had a good mix of proven Major Leaguers and prospects.

A Kevin Plawecki walk was the lone baserunner Skubal allowed in two innings. When Bobby Dalbec stepped to the plate, having nearly cleared the berm in left-center field a couple innings earlier, Skubal made his final throws valuable.

Having put Dalbec in a 1-2 count with back-to-back 95-mph fastballs, Skubal kicked up his leg, turned to the plate and delivered his hardest fastball for his 28th and final pitch of the afternoon. "I was going up in the zone," Skubal said, "so I was just thinking, 'If I'm going to miss, it better be hard.'"  It resulted in his third strikeout of the day.

"He's got a lot of ability, let's put it that way. And he's got a bright future," manager Ron Gardenhire said

Gardenhire didn't know much about Skubal until this camp. All he knew was second hand from others in organization. Gardenhire heard some in the organization tell him Skubal could be better.

For spring 2020, they're on par. One Detroit pitcher mentioned Skubal's fastball with Mize's splitter as two of the nastiest pitches in Tigers camp.  Skubal and Mize, fittingly, are housemates for this camp. They'll talk baseball at times, but "not a whole lot," Skubal said. It's more of a respite for them both, with Mize's wife providing much of the cooking.

"Amazing," Skubal said. "MVP of Spring Training."  (Beck - mlb.com - 3/2/2020)

Tarik missed the first phone call from Tigers vice president of player development Dave Littlefield on August 15, 2020. But he saw the text message from Littlefield saying to call him, and he knew what that usually meant.

The call to the Majors is one a player anticipates for years, but it isn’t one Skubal saw coming, not yet anyway. He was surprisingly calm but admitted his heart was racing.  “It was kind of out of the blue. I didn’t really expect it, honestly, just because of where I was at,” Skubal said. “Getting built up and going through that throwing progression and stuff like that, I just didn’t really expect it. But it was great news regardless.”

The way Tarik’s season was progressing before the 2020 coronavirus shutdown, a late summer call to the big leagues seemed destined. He was one of the stars of Spring Training 2020 in Lakeland, Fla., and he had vaulted alongside Casey Mize and Matt Manning as the Tigers’ top pitching prospects. Then came a 103.7-degree fever, a COVID-19 diagnosis in June, the struggle to get healthy, then the time to test negative.

“COVID took me down a little bit,” Skubal said.

By the time Skubal was cleared to join the team, Summer Camp 2020 had ended, and he had seemingly missed his opportunity to get in line for a promotion. His dominance at Detroit’s alternate training site, with scouting reports from team officials and coaches, put him back into the picture.  (Beck - mlb.com - 8/17/2020)

2020 Season: Skubal tested positive for COVID-19 and missed all of July's summer camp. Once he was medically cleared, he went to the alternate training site in Toledo at the end of the month, where he met up with 2018 draft-mate Casey Mize.

A couple of weeks later, the Tigers announced Skubal's addition to the active roster. He made his Major League debut the Aug. 18 against the White Sox. He got his first win Aug. 29, witnessed manager Ron Gardenhire retire on Sept. 19, and pitched in the team's final game of the 2020 season.

It's been a heck of a ride.

There were some bumps along the way, but for the most part, the 23-year-old exceeded expectations — a sign of even more success to come.

"A lot of things going on, a lot of things happening," Skubal said after the Tigers' 3-1 loss to the Royals. "I still look up at some point during the game, and I'm like, 'Wow, I'm in the Major Leagues, this is an MLB game.' I think that'll slow down for me a bit the more times I get an opportunity to throw. But I'm really excited.

"I'm as motivated as ever in my entire life for next year."

Skubal allowed four earned runs over two innings in his first career start. He has allowed four more earned runs in 13 innings since then. Skubal finished his first season with a 5.63 ERA in 32 innings and eight games (seven starts). He had 37 strikeouts, allowing 11 walks and nine home runs.

The thorn in his side was a Sept. 10 outing in a doubleheader with the Cardinals, where he lost control of his pitches. He gave up six runs in two innings. Without that start on his resume, he would've had a 4.20 ERA.

In six of Skubal's eight appearances, he allowed two earned runs or less. The only other frustrating start came in his debut, giving up four runs in two innings to the White Sox.

The display of his 95-mph fastball, improved changeup and slider, which opponents only hit .182 against, gave a considerable boost to his potential for dominance.

"This is a learning process," interim manager Lloyd McClendon said about Skubal and Mize. "I think they got rid of the jitters, and as a result, they'll be better going into next year. They got to continue the learning curve and take away the good and the bad from this short stint. But I think both of those guys will be just fine. Someday, they'll be one and two in that rotation." (Evan Petzold - Sept, 27, 2020)

Tarik is an extremely strong worker. He is a very intense competitor.

In a strange way, Skubal had missed the anxiety that comes with a start day. He talked of getting amped up for the drive to the ballpark. When he entered the Tigers’ clubhouse Tuesday as a member of the active roster for the first time since last August after spending the past 11 months recovering from flexor tendon surgery, teammates pointed and wished him luck. In the bullpen, the butterflies hovered in his stomach. And then, as he dotted the mitt with his last four warmup pitches, he could feel the power return. 

“I missed all that,” Skubal said.So though Skubal’s return was brief, it was far from tedious. Skubal’s dominance — granted, against baseball’s weakest lineup — was a reminder of his extreme talent. His fastball sizzled and topped out at 98.4 mph. He talked postgame of subtle mechanical adjustments that have helped make his velocity come easier. 

The fruits of Skubal’s labor were on display Tuesday as a sweeping slider induced three of Skubal’s nine whiffs from opposing batters.

“He’s a competitor,” catcher Jake Rogers said. “I knew whenever he stepped on the mound, whatever I called, he was gonna try to blow it by them, and he did.”

After 11 months on the shelf, we again saw a young pitcher with all the makings of a burgeoning ace.

“I expect him to be great,” Hinch said. “He’s one of the best pitchers in baseball, quite honestly, when he’s right.” (Stavenhagen - Jul 4, 2023 - The Athletic)

September 2023: Skubal was named AL Pitcher of the Month.

March 4, 2024: - Three days after the Tigers named Tarik Skubal their 2024 Opening Day starter, the left-hander provided a reminder why.

“Tarik is a complete pitcher, and he was very, very good today, as we would expect,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said. “He takes the intensity of a spring start very similar to what his intensity is in a [regular-season] game start. There’s a lot to like with him today, obviously powerful stuff, great secondary stuff, kind of breezed through his innings.” (J Beck - MLB.com - March 4, 2024) 

It’s Skubal’s time. Of all the pitchers on this list (2024 All-MLB Breakout Team), he’s the most likely to finish top five in the Cy Young voting this year. He’s the full package, with the right pitcher’s frame and mindset. Now, he’s ready for a bigger breakout. (Bowden - Mar 19, 2024 - The Athletic)

July 2024: Skubal was selected to the All-Star Game. 

Russ Skubal is a longtime basketball coach and now an elementary school principal. He can spout John Wooden truisms off the top of his head: Success is peace of mind, which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you did your best to become the best you are capable of becoming.

This was the second language of the Skubal household. 

“He lives by all of those coachspeak things you say,” Russ said of his son.

Tarik Skubal was the third of four brothers, born in Hayward, Calif., and raised in the little town of Kingman, Ariz. His upbringing is now part of the mythos, a necessary component in understanding how and why Skubal attacked those 11 months the way he did. He was born with a clubbed left foot, casts and a corrective surgery starting soon after he was born.

“He’s had adversity, and he’s overcome it,” Russ said. “Once you’ve had adversity in your life and you’ve overcome it, you just see the challenge.”

He was also born into a house full of boys. That meant basketball goals and pitchback nets, constant competition. When Russ moved from his last home, he had to patch over beebee gun holes left in the wall.

Skubal’s teammates swear he has a goofy side, but even those in his own home talk first about his intensity.

“Cutthroat,” brother Tyler called the upbringing.

There are Jordanesque tales of Skubal losing to Tyler, who was three years older, in driveway games of one-on-one, shots thrown back in his face. He kept trying, forced creative shots, got frustrated but kept coming back for more. 

“Both of his older brothers, if they went somewhere, he was gonna go, and he expected to be able to compete with them,” Russ said.

For all the Wooden ideology, Russ also had a harder edge to him. Tyler remembers practices halted because he didn’t jump-stop correctly. Missing a practice was never an option. There was a car ride back from Phoenix, when Russ drove while watching the game back on a camcorder, lecturing the whole time.

“I joke, and I’m hesitant to say this,” Tyler says, “but my dad was our Bobby Knight.”

Skubal, the only lefty in his household, played three sports in high school. He viewed himself as a basketball player until his modest recruitment in baseball started coming. Russ may have been hard-nosed, but a young Skubal never lacked the strong will to push back. “He’s different,” Tyler said. “He was a little bit more stubborn with my dad. He was the kid that pushed the limits. ‘What can I actually do and get away with before dad gets mad at me?’” 

Skubal’s unyielding desire manifested itself in 2016, after his Tommy John surgery. He spent that summer home from college, driving nearly 400 miles roundtrip from Kingman to Phoenix so he could access better training. His now-wife, Jess, let him drive her new Dodge Dart. She packed him lunches and helped him get a discounted rate on hotels. “Six-foot-3, fitting in a Dart,” Tyler said. “He’s gone for the week, came back Friday.”

That was supposed to be the worst of it. Skubal slowly recovered from the surgery, got drafted and grew into a major-league pitcher with massive upside. 

Pitching coach Jon Huizinga compares Skubal’s game to Michelangelo carving the Statue of David. There was never a need to add. Instead, it was a matter of chiseling away all that was unnecessary. Small refinements over time.

“I like to say I work with a chisel and sandpaper,” Huizinga said. 

Skubal and Wakefield talk before and after each outing. They catch up between starts via Xbox. Confident as Skubal can be, Wakefield thinks even Skubal was surprised at how quickly his game came together.

“He knows in his heart he’s a good player,” Wakefield said. “But I don’t know if he thought (last season) maybe he was just on a good run or didn’t know how long it would last. I don’t think he truly believed he was that guy.”

This spring, though, Wakefield started seeing something different. More struts around the mound. More fearless pounding of the strike zone. A different level of focus.

“I think something kind of changed in him a little bit,” Wakefield said. “I think he knows now he is that guy.” Since July 4, 2023, Skubal has been, statistically, the best starting pitcher in all of baseball. 

This season, the confidence has translated into more displays of emotion. Skubal has not been afraid to jaw at umpires. He has intimidated opponents. He has roared after big strikeouts.

“That’s the Skubal in him,” Russ said.

Comfortable in his skin, efficient in his delivery, ruthless with his stuff, Skubal was named an All-Star for the first time Sunday, one more flag-plant in his ascension to the game’s elite tier of starting pitchers.

“The way he attacks the strike zone and what he’s developed into, it’s not always been that way for Tarik,” Hinch said. “It’s not been a magic carpet ride.” (Stavenhagen - Jul 8, 2024 - The Athletic) 

During Players' Weekend, August 16th- Tarik Skubal of the Tigers goes by the nickname “Skoob,” so really, he had no choice but to wear spikes with Scooby Doo on them, and we’re glad for it. The Tigers are also going to be selling a “Skubal Snack Burger” that he helped design, with bacon, pepper jack cheese, light mayo and a fried egg. (The Athletic - Aug 16, 2024) 

To understand part of who Tarik Skubal is, how he was raised and how he got here, it’s important to revisit the moment his older brother, Tyler, approached their father, Russ, in the garage. With Tyler was Tyler’s friend and basketball teammate Wil Jones. Jones’ home situation was tough. His father died before he was born. His mother, he says, battled drug addiction. He bounced between foster homes for the first eight years of his life until, finally, he went to live full time with his aunt and uncle. 

“It was rough,” Jones said. “A very rough childhood.”

He grew up in Lancaster, Calif., but by high school, the family moved to the small town of Kingman, Ariz. The move was a culture shock, compounded by the fact his household was crowded. He had sisters. His aunt and uncle had children of their own and were caring for two grandchildren to boot. Jones speaks highly of his relatives, but the household was strict to a fault. And reality was that certain needs — clothes, basketball shoes, general attention — went unmet, he says. Every family dynamic has its layers and complexities. This one had a lot. One thing led to another. Jones surfed on friends’ couches, briefly lived with another family, until that family decided to move to Phoenix.

With nowhere left to turn, he discussed the situation with Tyler, who promptly suggested: “Let me ask my parents if you can live with us.” As Jones recalls, they approached Russ while he was building, of all things, bunk beds in the garage. The Skubals already had four boys in their house. But as a longtime coach and educator, Russ was open to the idea.

“I’m gonna be honest: I don’t really have all the real details because I really didn’t care,” Russ said. “I guess when you’re in education your whole life and your whole job is about coaching kids and taking care of kids and helping kids be the best, it’s easy.”

Russ talked to his wife, Laura. Laura talked to Jones’ older sister to get a better read on the situation.

As a family, with a house already overflowing with boys, they took in another.

“It wasn’t a thing,” Laura said. “Oh, OK, Wil needs help? We’re gonna figure it out.”

“And after three,” she joked, “does it really matter?” 

Perhaps you have heard some of the Tarik Skubal origin story. Crammed house, sports-crazed, rambunctious and rowdy.

“Like living in a clubhouse all year,” Skubal said.

That tale often leaves out a large part of how that household got so rollicking. Jones was about three years older than Skubal, but they bonded quickly. “I didn’t know any better,” Skubal said. “I’m 13 years old and was like, ‘Yeah, I’d love to have another guy live with me.’” 

That’s where the experience started, just two teenagers in the first stages of charting their paths. Now one is the presumptive AL Cy Young winner, the other is a police SWAT team sergeant, and both look back at their experiences together as part of what made them who they are today. All these years later, in the days before starting Game 1 of the AL Wild Card Series, Skubal stood at his locker and shared some of the old stories, rehashed the antics and also spoke from a new perspective.

Skubal (who could be joined by the National League’s Chris Sale Monday) became the first pitcher to win a full-season pitching Triple Crown since 2011, dominance to the highest degree. There is a long list of people who helped shape his journey to the top of his sport, and Jones is key among them. Jones served as a friend, a co-conspirator in teenage shenanigans, a motivator in a formative time, and now, a brother in every way but blood.

Massive as the change to Skubal’s world might have seemed when Jones moved in, any real-life adjustment period was minimal. “Honestly,” Skubal said, “I think that’s a credit to who he is as a person.” The only drawback? Russ and Laura gave Skubal’s bed to Jones because he was older. Five boys shared jack-and-jill bedrooms with a bathroom in the middle. Tarik and Wil were together in one of those rooms. They quickly learned they had something in common: A mischievous streak and a willingness to bend the rules.

“When he was younger, he was a little bit of a rebel, and I was obviously a rebel,” Jones said. “So us together, it was trouble.”

They way they tell it, it was all innocent stuff, like staying up late and playing video games in the living room. When Russ woke in the middle of the night to the hollers, the kids found places to hide. Trent, the oldest brother who was still living at home, kept a box full of chips under his bed. Jones and Skubal tore into the bags. Trent put a lock on the box, and then they broke the lock. There are stories about BB guns. When Russ sold the house years later, he found holes in the wall he didn’t know were there, hidden behind furniture. Nothing got the kids going like basketball. Skubal was a freshman in high school at the time, and he’d practice with the varsity team, which included Tyler and Jones. Skubal was about 5 foot 7, a little chubby and slow. But he could shoot the lights out. Had a feel for the game and a stubborn streak that foreshadowed the force he would become. 

“Tarik was the young kid that was always good at everything,” Jones said. “Me and Tyler were always looking to give him a piece of his own medicine on the court. He normally proved us wrong.”

At home, they played bitter pickup games. Especially as Tarik grew, Jones was outsized but not outmatched. Only 5 foot 7 to this day, Jones could jump out of the gym. “My kind of a guy,” said Russ, who coached their travel team. “Loved playing defense. Quick, maximized his ability.”

A consummate coach, Russ can’t help but add: “Wish he could have been a better shooter. It would have made him so much more dangerous.”

They talked trash, and Tarik was usually the one chirping the most. His bursts of emotion after a big strikeout, the fist pumps and the roars, took root in these games back in Kingman. 

Consider Wil Jones in those moments. Seamless as his adjustment to Skubal family was, he never wanted to be like a burden.

“That was an internal conflict,” he said. “Me not wanting to put any stress on anyone else, and I don’t want to come in and change the dynamic of their family.”

When the Skubals first took Jones in, Laura met with all his teachers. She told them what was going on, wanted to make sure he was on a good path. The Skubals bought Wil clothes and new basketball shoes. Laura and Russ called him their son. The boys all called him their brother.

“That’s why I’m grateful,” Jones said. “They really embraced me.”

It was a good situation, but Jones sometimes felt guilt for leaving his aunt and uncle, especially as they developed health issues that turned serious. Jones says he started visiting them more after he graduated high school. Both died not long after, and sometimes he worried he had wronged them.

“The hardest was internally,” Jones said, “always feeling like you’re doing something wrong even though you’re in a better place.” 

Despite the difficulty and the instability of his early years, Jones was never really on a bad course. His aunt and uncle wouldn’t have tolerated it, he says. Despite his circumstances, Laura says Jones, “made good choices even on his own.” Russ says he’s glad the family could share “a little piece in helping a young man find his footing.” But they’re not here to take credit. Jones did so much through his own determination. He wanted to prove people wrong. Moreso, he always wanted to prove things to himself.

“Sports, school, jobs, supporting the family, whatever it is, I’ve just always had that chip,” Jones said. “Like, whatever it is, I’m gonna be the best at what I can do.”Sound familiar? 

Believe it or not, the best pitcher in the American League wasn’t always a hyper-focused striver. There were days, Jones said, where Tarik Skubal had to be dragged to go work out or go pitch.

“I was always the middle man, the reasoning one,” Jones said. ‘“Come on Tarik, you got to go work out. You got to go listen to Tyler or your mom and your dad. They are being tough. But take it from me, they’re trying to make you better.’”

In those days Skubal was a prankster, a talented athlete who also still needed to find his drive.

“We were the kids who didn’t work too hard, but always had fun,” Jones said. “Tyler, super responsible. Older brother Trent, responsible. Trey (the youngest), responsible. Me and Tarik, we were not the responsible ones.”

The story is well-told by this point. Kingman is a small desert town, the kind where most of the people who grow up there stay there. Skubal had grown big and tall, even more of a force in the brothers’ pickup games. “He was like a bully on the basketball court, similar to how he pitches,” Jones said. Gifted as Skubal was, he was an unheralded recruit. Seattle University was his lone Division I offer. At Seattle, Skubal blossomed into a talented arm. Then, his sophomore season, his elbow twinged with pain. He tore his UCL and needed Tommy John surgery. He spent a summer back in Arizona, driving his now-wife’s Dodge Dart and staying in hotels so he could go through proper rehab in Phoenix. 

“It was crazy to watch,” Jones said, “because he endured a lot to get to where he is. He truly did.”

Somewhere in there, all his father’s coach-speak lessons clicked. His competitive streak meshed with a newer, focused drive. He was still unheralded, still an underdog despite how he was perceived back home. “Always the kid everyone was chasing,” Jones said.

When Skubal’s pro career began, he was drafted to a bad team in the ninth round.

“Did I know he was going to go pro in any sport?” Jones said. “No. But I knew he had a shot at whatever he desired.” On Opening Day, Jones and Tyler took a red-eye flight to see Skubal pitch in Chicago. Jones has seen Skubal pitch multiple times in games out on the West Coast. He decks his children out in Tigers gear, courtesy of Skubal. “He’s still not where he wants to be,” Jones said. “I guarantee you if you ask him, he’d say, ‘I got a long way to go.’” In the midst of a Cy Young season, Skubal has often made a point to distribute credit. He’s often praised Jake Rogers, his personal catcher. On the night the Tigers clinched a playoff appearance, something they could not have done without their 21-10 record on days Skubal pitches, he again credited the team’s trainers and strength coaches. Skubal is the Tigers’ nominee for the Roberto Clemente Award thanks to his work with Alternatives for Girls, a Detroit nonprofit that helps domestic violence survivors and at-risk young women. He chose the foundation, he said, after conferring with his wife, Jess, who was raised by a single mother. 

The day before the Tigers clinched and soaked themselves in champagne, Skubal talked about someone else. Here at the apex of his profession, filled with the stress and pressure and expectations, he has a good source of perspective. On a few occasions, Skubal has asked Jones about his line of work. “He told me one story,” Skubal said. “I said, ‘Don’t tell me ever again. I don’t want to know.”

He’s here playing a game. Every day, he has a brother risking his life.

“The real stuff,” Skubal said. “Those people make sacrifices to where this is our job. This is my job. I get to play baseball.”

As Skubal prepares to pitch Game 1 of a playoff series, a goal he laid out back in spring training, he is in the spotlight more than ever.

One of his biggest heroes, though, is a brother back in Arizona.

“Great dad, great role model,” Skubal said. “Role model for a lot of people. Not just me.” (Stavenhagen - Sep 30, 2024 - The Athletic) 

Baseball has a way. This game can loosen ends and tie them back together. It can create storylines, dismantle them, and then bring a plot full circle. The sport unites and divides and connects again.

Such will be the case Monday Oct 7, 2024, when Tarik Skubal and Matthew Boyd face off as starting pitchers for their respective teams in Game 2 of the American League Division Series. Boyd will start for the Cleveland Guardians as a pitcher who has rebuilt his arm and his career, serving as a valued member of a discombobulated rotation who helped the Guardians secure the AL Central division crown. 

Skubal does so as a ninth-round pick who morphed into a full-fledged ace, carrying a heavy load for an underdog team that has staged an unlikely run to the postseason.

Their history together dates to 2018, when Boyd was an emerging pitcher and Skubal was still nobody. Boyd was with the Tigers on a road trip in Seattle. A camera crew followed as he visited his old haunts. Boyd’s former high-school field was among the stops. The diamond had since been renovated and became home to Seattle University’s baseball program.

On that visit, Boyd talked with Seattle coach Donny Harrel, someone he had known for years. Over by the bullpen, Harrel pointed to a big lefty with long hair who had just wrapped a throwing session.

“That guy that just threw a bullpen,” Harrel told Boyd, “he’s a first-round talent. But he’s gonna fall in the draft. He’s special.”

Later that summer, during the MLB Draft, Boyd kept tabs on the Tigers’ selections. When he saw the team picked a pitcher from Seattle in the ninth round, he called Harrel.

“Is this the guy?” he asked.

“You bet,” Harrel said. “You guys got a steal.” =================

First, they were teammates. Only two years after that bullpen, the world was at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Skubal had just been called up after proving Harrel correct, rocketing through the minor leagues and making his debut at age 22.

Skubal in those days still came across as serious and shy. His first handful of outings in the major leagues were a struggle. He was trying to find his footing in a time and place where everyone felt isolated.

Boyd was the Tigers’ Opening Day starter, a beloved clubhouse presence who was giving his all to a rebuilding team that lost 114 games the previous season. When the Tigers opted not to trade him at the 2019 deadline, Boyd turned deep one night in a postgame interview. The lone Tiger to spend his offseasons in Detroit, he spoke of his love for the city and the team. He drew the image of driving south down Interstate 75 and seeing the Detroit skyline. An eternal optimist, he yearned to be part of the Tigers’ climb back to glory. 

“If you don’t think that way, if you don’t expect those kinds of things, if you don’t call those things into action, into fruition, who else will?” he had said.

Taking a cue from former teammate Justin Verlander, Boyd made a point to host dinners on the road.

“Team dinners are such a fabric of being in the big leagues,” Boyd said. “Unfortunately, COVID, we lost a lot of that.” 

Sensing a problem that needed a solution, Boyd and his teammates found an alternative in that 2020 season. Along with veteran Jordan Zimmerman and rookie Casey Mize, they would locate an upscale steakhouse, order delivery and spread the offerings in a hotel room. They gathered and watched baseball, talked about life.

“A few times,” Boyd said, “we even opened a bottle of wine.”

For a rookie Skubal, the dinners meant the world. They helped him feel like he belonged in a time where connection was hard to come by.

“We probably weren’t supposed to be in each other’s rooms,” Skubal said. =================

The following January, Skubal traveled from his Arizona hometown back to Seattle. He stayed with Boyd, as did teammates Daniel Norris and Spencer Turnbull, while he trained at Driveline.

Part of the bond between Skubal and Boyd was a natural product of being together through the grind of a baseball season. Part of it was also a result of the trials they both faced. 

Through the ups and the downs came opportunities to talk and grow. The young players viewed Boyd as a mentor.

“I had a lot of discussions with him, just mentally, you’re worried about going up and down, how do I just focus on my job?” Skubal said. “And he had a lot of advice and a lot of good stuff for me throughout all that.

“I think that speaks to the guy he is. I think he’s the nicest guy in the world. I told him that. Like, ‘Dude, you should act a little more mad sometimes.’”

Boyd, though, often said he was learning just as much from young players like Skubal.

“Through that learning, you improve your own game,” he once said. “It’s always a game of growth and self-awareness.” 

As Boyd began the 2024 season at home, he often received texts from Mize and Skubal, checking in on their old friend’s recovery from Tommy John surgery.

“I really did lean on Casey and Tarik,” Boyd said earlier this year. “Those guys were huge.”=================

When Skubal first saw Boyd had signed with the Guardians, he fired off a playful text.

Traitor.

Truth is Boyd kept close tabs on the Tigers and his friends all spring and into the summer. “Just because I really care about all those guys over there,” he said.

After outings good or bad, Skubal would often grab his phone from his locker and see a message from Boyd. “Always positive things,” Skubal said. Skubal returned from his flexor tendon surgery in the second half of 2023 to great success. By this season, he grew into an even more fearsome monster. As Skubal has asserted himself as one of baseball’s best, Boyd has taken steps toward revitalizing a career knocked off track by injury and inconsistency. Now these fates collide. For the first time in 10 seasons, the Tigers are back in the playoffs. Boyd was not able to be part of the team’s hard-fought rise. Instead, after his own reclamation and with his team holding a 1-0 series lead, he has a chance to shut it down. 

On the other side will be that kid he once heard whispers about in Seattle.

Sitting at a dais Saturday in Cleveland, Skubal thought back to those COVID dinners and grinned.

“Now we’re on this stage,” Skubal said. “I think that’s pretty special. It’ll be fun to watch him go play. But I’m going to be rooting against him pretty heavily.” (Stavenhagen/Meisel - Oct 6, 2024 - The Athletic)

Nov 8, 2024: Tarik Skubal was a unanimous choice for the 2024 Tiger of the Year Award, receiving all 22 first-place votes from members of the Detroit chapter of the Baseball Writers' Association of America.

Skubal -- who won the American League’s pitching Triple Crown by leading AL pitchers in wins (18), ERA (2.39) and strikeouts (228) -- is the first unanimous choice for Tiger of the Year since Miguel Cabrera won the AL batting Triple Crown in 2012 on his way to AL MVP honors. Skubal is the first Tigers pitcher to win the honor since Matthew Boyd in 2019. (J Beck - MLB.com - Nov 8, 2024)

Nov 14, 2024: Tigers ace and American League Cy Young Award favorite Tarik Skubal is one of five starting pitchers on this year’s All-MLB First Team.

TRANSACTIONS

June 2018: The Tigers chose Skubal in the 9th round, out of the University of Seattle in Washington state.

Jan 11, 2024: Skubal and the Tigers avoided arbitration agreeing to a one-year deal worth $2.65 million.

Skubal is a strong, physical lefthanded reliever. He has a 91-98 mph 4-seam FASTBALL with late life, that gets a 60 grade. He hits both sides of the plate and works it inside on hitters.

He has 78-80 mph 1-to-6 CURVEBALL with excellent depth and a 55 grade. And it comes out of the same tunnel as his heater. Hitters can't pick it up before the pitch changes planes and drops out of the zone, which allows him to get a lot of swings and misses. It's a harder curveball with good spin.

He has a SLIDER that lacks tilt, but he commands it better than his curve. The slider has shorter, tight break to it, which allows him to throw it for strikes. The natural movement and solid command make for a slider that is 60 grade for plus potential.

He throws a swing-and-miss CHANGEUP with a 55 grade It has a short, tight, two-plane action and plus deception.  

Tarik made his MLB debut on Aug. 18, 202 and made eight appearances in all in 2020. His debut showed that his command and secondaries still need work. His arsenal still gives him the ceiling of at least a mid-rotation starter. (Emily Waldon - Baseball America Prospect Handbook - Spring, 2021)

Tarik didn't acquire his slider until 2019, when he learned it from teammate Adam Wolf. With that in tow, Skubal said it’s all about feel.

"I like toying with grips,” Skubal said. "I'm always changing stuff, just to find out what I like the best. My fastball, changeup and slider have stayed relatively the same. I've tinkered with my curveball a little bit."

Skubal attacks hitters with his heater that has late life. He complements his impressive heater with a trio of above-average-or-better secondary pitches, including a plus slider that he uses to back-foot right-handed hitters. Skubal's curveball is less dynamic and at times bleeds together with his slider, though he still demonstrates solid overall feel for the pitch, and his changeup will be another weapon once fully developed. He was more successful against right-handed hitters (.180/.259/.304) than lefties (.233/.277/.310) in his first full season, and recorded the Minors' highest swinging-strike rate (18.1 percent) among pitchers who threw at least 120 frames.

An under-the-radar prospect heading into this first full season, Skubal has now established himself as one of the top southpaws in the Minors and gives the Tigers a left-handed complement to their rising crop of impressive right-handed starters. His changeup and curveball require further refinement, as does his command, but Skubal has the stuff and natural strikeout tendencies needed to become a No. 3 starter. (Spring 2020)

Tarik is an intelligent pitcher, maintaining a good tempo and stays under control. He gets a 50 grade on his control.

"I believe he can be a front-of-the-rotation guy,” a scout for a National League team said. "He has poise on the mound and deception to his delivery. He’s a high-ceiling guy. His double-plus heater with plus command sets up his off-speed,” the scout said. "There is a future plus hammer with downer action, and his slider is an easy plus pitch." (Spring, 2020)

Tarik has a high leg kick with a high, three-quarter release. He will mix in the occasional slide step with runners on. Clocked 1.78 to home from the stretch with the leg kick. Skubal hides the ball well and his cross body action adds deception. He repeats his delivery well.

Skubal has 60 grade control, but could improve his command.

"I've just been executing a lot of pitches. That's what I put my focus on . . . just going out there and executing my pitches . . . being results-oriented, sometimes that will beat you up. I base it on executing my pitches, that's how I judge my outings", Skubal said in 2019.

Skubal is a poised figure on the mound. At 6-foot-3, he makes the most of his long levers and works with a high leg kick. He stays balanced and has a small shoulder tilt to his delivery which helps him get good angle on all of his pitches. Skubal also works from a slightly higher and wider three-quarter arm slot. He is able to repeat the arm slot consistently, although his release point wavers at times.

Most outings, Tarik hits all four quadrants of the strike zone. He can dial it up to 97 mph, but the pitch sits comfortably in the 92-95 mph range. It has late life up in the zone, which allows him to give hitters a different look from his other offerings that he keeps down in the zone. Skubal can also work the fastball with some two-seam action in to lefthanders, which makes him a difficult matchup for any batter.

Skubal's delivery is key to his success with both breaking balls. The ability to spin the ball and wide angle of Skubal's arm slot allow him to manipulate the break of his pitches while keeping them in and around the strike zone. His arm speed is plus, and he doesn't have any problems getting on top of his breaking pitches to keep them down. (Justin Coleman - Baseball America - July 22, 2019)

MLB debut (Aug 18, 2020): Tarik’s debut at Guaranteed Rate Field lasted two innings. His lesson lasted well longer than that. His memories, even in a 10-4 Tigers loss to the White Sox, will last the rest of his life.

As Daniel Norris finished his first inning of relief, Skubal was still in the Tigers’ dugout. Pitching coach Rick Anderson was at his side, doing all the talking. It was reminiscent of the long talk manager Ron Gardenhire had with Spencer Turnbull after a rough start in Oakland last September. Unlike Turnbull that night, Skubal’s outing was expected to be brief due to pitch count.

“We were just talking about what I did well, what I didn't do well, what I'm going to work on in between starts to get better,” Skubal said. “That's pretty much it.”

He’ll have plenty to lament that didn’t go well. His third Major League pitch ended up in the left-center field seats, courtesy of Tiger killer Tim Anderson. His first big league inning lasted 30 pitches, or about 60 percent of his expected pitch count.

“He was really throwing it,” Gardenhire said, “probably overthrowing just about everything. Those guys, they’re swinging really good. But it was a great experience for him.”

Skubal gave up three consecutive hits in what ended up being a three-run second inning, one coming on an 0-2 slider that Anderson seemingly anticipated, stepping up in the box as he crushed an RBI double at 107.6 miles an hour—two mph harder than his 422-foot homer.

“It was a bad pitch. On 0-2, I’ve got to be better,” Skubal said. “Gotta get the ball down and in, out of the zone. I shouldn’t be throwing a strike right there. Obviously that’s not what I wanted to do, but that’s what happened. That’s one of the pitches I wish I could have back.” (J Beck - MLB.com - Aug 19, 2020)

2020 Season: Skubal's numbers from his first big league callup weren't impressive, but that's understandable, considering he missed all of Summer Camp and made just a few starts at the Tigers' alternate training site before his debut. The lanky left-hander showed promise in his final three starts, recording 20 strikeouts and allowing just 10 hits over 14 2/3 innings as he grew comfortable throwing all his pitches to top-level competition.

Skubal might open the season at Triple-A Toledo to control his innings total, but with a full Spring Training and a chance to work with new Tigers pitching coach Chris Fetter, he should look more like the dominant pitcher who vaulted up prospect rankings in 2019. (J Beck - MLB.com - Dec 28, 2020)

2020 Season Pitch Usage: 4-seam Fastball: 60.1% of the time; Change 16.4%; Slider 15.7%; and Curve 7.8% of the time. Average velocity: 4-seam 94.8 mph, Change 83.5, Slider 86.4, and Curve 76.9 mph.

2022 Season Pitch Usage/Avg. Velo: Fastball 28.6% - 94.3 mph; Slider 29.4% - 89.3 mph; Sinker 20% - 95 mph; Change 15.3% - 83.7 mph; Curve 6.6% - 77 mph.

2021 Improvements: Tarik Skubal is fighting for a spot in the starting rotation this spring, said this week that he’s been tinkering with the splitter.

“It’s a pitch that I’m learning,” Skubal said. “If I could take Casey Mize's splitter and just add it right to my arsenal, I would really like that. "It won’t be that simple, of course, but Skubal is pleased by the early returns.

He went to the Driveline Baseball training center in suburban Seattle this winter looking to work on his changeup. “I just wasn’t very confident in it and I wasn’t seeing the results I wanted to in games,” he said. “It just wasn’t the pitch that I wanted it to be. I wasn’t getting the movement I wanted.”

The advice from Driveline’s pitch designers? Make your changeup a splitter.  "I was like, ‘All right, I’m open to anything,’” Skubal said. The splitter is sometimes called a split-fingered fastball—based on the way the pitcher grips the ball—but it’s really not a fastball. It’s more like a change-up that has a nasty break.  "I really, really liked it. They really liked it. So that’s how it developed,” Skubal said. (Evan Woodbery - Feb. 25, 2021)

August 25, 2021:  Tarik struck out 10 over 5 innings, and his first seven outs of the game were punch outs.

September 12, 2021:  Tarik's six strikeouts over three innings marked his 22nd consecutive appearance with four or more strikeouts, the longest streak by a Major League rookie since at least 1893.  He moved out of a tie with Rays rookie Shane McClanahan, whose 21-game streak ended with three strikeouts in his last start against the Red Sox.

2022 Season: Skubal pitched well last year at Triple-A Memphis, posting a 2.41 ERA in 33 innings, striking out 43 and walking just 12.

2023 Season: From the time he returned from 2022’s season ending flexor tendon surgery on July 4, to the end of the 2023 season, left-hander Tarik Skubal was the most valuable pitcher in baseball according to FanGraphs WAR (fWAR). His ERA (2.80) and FIP (2.00) across 80 1⁄3 innings ranked sixth and first in all baseball, respectively. His strikeout rate of 32.9 percent, was second only to Spencer Strider’s 34.9 percent. With the 11th lowest walk rate, Skubal led the major leagues in K-BB%, and had the second lowest HR/9 mark, 0.45 home runs per nine inning, to Blake Snell’s 0.41 during that span. (Brandon Day@Fiskadoro74  Oct 9, 2023)  

April 16, 2024: Tarik Skubal's ascendance to an MLB ace began on April 30, 2021. That day was the genesis of what's become one of baseball's most unhittable pitches: Skubal's changeup.

Skubal starts against the World Series champion Rangers as the most valuable pitcher in the Majors over the last 10 months. The 27-year-old southpaw has a 2.67 ERA and 122 strikeouts in the 18 starts since he returned to the Tigers rotation last July. And the changeup is the pitch that truly transformed Skubal into a 2024 Cy Young contender.

Skubal's changeup is a unique weapon. It is a seam-shifted wake changeup -- the way he throws it, the seams of the baseball catch the air in just the right way and make his changeup move much more, and much more unpredictably, than it would otherwise. It drops. It fades. It dances through the air. And hitters swing and miss, more often than they do against any other starter's changeup. All because of the way Skubal orients the seams of the baseball when he releases the pitch.

"Hitters have a harder time picking it up," Skubal told MLB.com. "Because it's supposed to be doing one thing, and it does something else. There's physics that go into it: The friction of the ball, how the seams catch, how the smooth air can push it."

SP with highest whiff rate on an offspeed pitch, since July 2023Kodai Senga -- forkball: 60.1%Tarik Skubal -- changeup: 50.0%Patrick Sandoval -- changeup: 47.5%Blake Snell -- changeup: 44.4%Tyler Anderson -- changeup: 43.1%

Skubal didn't just find that magical changeup overnight. Its development has been a three-year-long process. Here's how Skubal's changeup became what it is today -- a Cy Young-caliber pitch. (D Adler - MLB.com - April 16, 2024) 

It isn’t often that a pitcher comes along and has a season that’s likely to make him the unanimous Cy Young Award winner, despite the bizarre little side note that … almost nobody in America has actually seen him pitch.

But I think Tarik Skubal has just pulled that off. It’s a Detroit thing. Fortunately, he won’t be unseen and unknown for long. All the Tigers have to do is show up in the postseason and hand him the ball. I’m thinking he’ll do the rest. Now here’s why this has been such a special year:

He’s in a club with all Cy Youngs — Skubal’s chase of the Pitching Triple Crown (first in the AL in wins, ERA and strikeouts) will get more attention. But let’s do what all of us trendy, modern Cy Young Award voters do these days — and ignore the “wins” part. 

He’s not even hittable in the strike zone — Skubal’s manager, A.J. Hinch, told me earlier this year: “I love the way Tarik has dominated the strike zone.” Do we pay enough attention to that? I’d vote no. It’s telling us all we need to know that, according to Statcast, Skubal has …

• The best rate of pitches in the strike zone of any AL pitcher (56.6 percent)

• The AL’s second-highest swing-and-miss rate on pitches in the zone (19.9 percent)

So he’s filling up the strike zone and still not getting hit (.200 opponent average, 0.70 HR per nine innings). That’s what Cy Youngs do, my friends.

He overpowers hitters with all five pitches — I wrote about this two months ago in my midseason awards column. It’s worth repeating. How often do you run across a starter who throws five pitches — and hitters have a batting average of .207 or less against four of them?

Does that seem good? Well, how about this: None of those four are even his best pitch! That’s his changeup, which has a ridiculous 47 percent whiff rate (82 strikeouts, 49 hits against one of this sport’s most untouchable invisi-balls).

But also … Opposing cleanup hitters are hitting .159/.214/.220 against this guy (with three extra-base hits all season). That computes to an OPS+ of 20! … He’s faced 196 hitters leading off an inning. He’s walked only six — and struck out 60. … He’s faced 129 hitters with men in scoring position. He’s walked two — and struck out 47. Which is also their OPS+ in those situations — 47! I’m not sure how it’s possible that the only Tigers starters who have ever won a Cy Young Award are Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer and Denny McLain. But Tarik Skubal is a lock to join them — even if most of the country wouldn’t recognize him if he was sitting next to them at Starbucks. Yet! (Stark - Sep 27, 2024 - The Athletic)

2024 Season: The Detroit Tigers ace was named the American League Cy Young Award winner for the 2024 season.

Skubal won the American League Triple Crown as the regular season came to a close, having led the league in wins (18), ERA (2.39) and strikeouts (228). He is the first American League pitcher to win the Triple Crown in a full season (excluding 2020) since Justin Verlander accomplished that in 2011. Shubal was 18-4 and made his first All-Star team. He has a WHIP of 0.922, picking up where he left off last season, when he had a 0.896 WHIP in 80.1 innings over 15 starts.

Skubal joins Verlander and Hal Newhouser (1945) as Tigers pitchers to win the Triple Crown. This is just the 30th time in major-league history that a pitcher won the Triple Crown; the last was Cleveland's Shane Bieber in the shortened 2020. Skubal is just the 21st pitcher to accomplish the feat.

2017 Season: Skubal took a redshirt year following Tommy John surgery, in what would have been his junior year. 

July 9-Aug 18, 2020: Tarik was on the IL.

LONG-TERM FOREARM INJURY

Aug 2, 2022:  LHP Tarik Skubal was examined for left forearm inflammation. While Skubal sounded hopeful that he’ll be able to make his next turn in the Tigers rotation after leaving the latest start against the Twins with left arm fatigue, manager A.J. Hinch suggested the team will take a more pragmatic approach.

“He’s going to get some tests done and see some doctors,” Hinch said. “I know he’s optimistic that he wants to make his next start. I’m not so certain just because of the alarms that go off whenever a pitcher is not feeling right. We’re going to be very careful with this and see where it takes us.”

Aug 2-Nov 10, 2022: Tarik was on the IL with left arm fatigue. He did not pitch for the remainder of the season.

Aug. 18, 2022: Skubal underwent surgery to repair the flexor tendon in his left forearm.

Feb 28, 2023: Skubal is in the final stages of his throwing progression and is currently playing catch five times a week, according to the Tigers. Once that is complete, he will focus on throwing off a mound, hopefully sometime this spring. Neither Skubal nor the team have publicly discussed a timetable, but the typical return window for a pitcher is six to nine months depending on the extent of the surgery.