Tarik Skubal Makes His Triumphant Return To The Mound Tonight For The Tigers

It really is funny how baseball works. The Detroit Tigers spent years loaded up on right-handed starting pitchers in the first round of the MLB draft. Casey Mize, Matt Manning, Beau Burrows, and Alex Faedo were all at one point considered to be aces of the future, and yet it was a left-handed starter taken in the 9th round of the 2018 draft who has turned out to be the best of these young arms, and tonight, he returns to a major league mound for the first time since August 1st of last year.

Skubal's career numbers won't wow you. He started slow after making his debut in the fugazi covid year that was 2020. He showed flashes of greatness in 2021, but he was poised for a breakout in 2022 before he got injured. While a 7-8 record and a 3.52 ERA might not scream "ace," Skubal's stuff is undeniably filthy, and his peripheral numbers stand out. While his 3.52 ERA from a year ago is solid, his sub-3 FIP indicated a pitcher with some bad luck. When he gets hit, he tends to get hit hard. His average exit velocity and hard-hit rate from a season ago weren't pretty, but all his other numbers stand out. He's yet to establish himself as the ace of the staff, but he certainly has the stuff to do it, and he's still only 26 years old. Unfortunately, he's missed so much time because it seemed like he was turning a corner before his injury a year ago. He made only three starts in the second half last year, but his ERA in those starts? 0.00. That will play.

While we all expected Skubal to return to Detroit at some point this year, many Tiger fans did not expect him to return under such unique circumstances. Due to the disaster that is the Al Comedy Central, Detroit finds themselves only four games back of the 1st place Minnesota Twins, and they have a three-game set coming up at home against the worst team in baseball. Now, because I'm a Tigers fan and hope is something we've rarely experienced over the last seven years, this feels like the moment they fumble the bag, but I'm trying to remain optimistic. This is not a good team right now, and yet they're four games out of first with their two best starters (Eduardo Rodriguez being the other) returning from injury this week, and centerfielder Riley Greene should be back on the major league roster shortly. Does this team win the division? I just can't entertain that notion (yet), but there is a pathway, and it starts with Skubal. He was shoving in his rehab starts, and he'll need to pick up where he left off a year ago if Detroit wants to have any chance of pulling off a miracle in this division. I hope he takes off. When this guy is on and in attack mode, he's one of my favorite pitchers in baseball to watch. 

Go out and shove, Scooby.