Tigers ace Tarik Skubal's life has changed. His pursuit of excellence is just beginning

New York Times

26-03-2025

DETROIT — The drive from the Detroit Tigers' spring training home in Lakeland, Fla., to Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota is 80 miles. If you are lucky enough to avoid the maddening traffic on I-4 West and I-75 South, this drive can be completed in 90 minutes. More likely, the trip takes at least two hours.
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A fundamental aspect of the Grapefruit League — certainly in comparison to its Arizona counterpart, the Cactus League — is the long distances between complexes. The mileage alters how teams prepare. The lack of convenience influences which players go on what trips. Typically, veterans and proven stars don't make the long drives. One day late in Miguel Cabrera's career, the Tigers took the franchise icon to play the Pirates in Bradenton. Cabrera gazed around the old ballpark in awe. Despite spending his entire career in the Grapefruit League, he had never been there before.
Telling, then, the choice Tarik Skubal made for his final outing of spring training. The Tigers had a split-squad day. One team was playing the New York Yankees at home in Lakeland. Another was playing the Baltimore Orioles in Sarasota. The Yankees were unlikely to bring their A-lineup over from Tampa. So Skubal, who had recently reveled in the challenge of facing the Philadelphia Phillies in Clearwater, chose the drive.
'He's crazy,' Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said that morning. 'I've been to Sarasota three times. It's a great place, but I'm done with the trip.'
As Skubal looks for an encore to his Cy Young Award season, perhaps this singular decision says everything. Rather than face a lineup of fringe players and minor leaguers, he went out of his way to face the likes of Adley Rutschman. Not only did Skubal take on this challenge but he also met it in dominating fashion. He powered his fastball, vexed hitters with his changeup and surrendered only one run over six innings. He struck out nine hapless batters who might have preferred he stayed in Polk County.
'I like competing,' Skubal said. 'I think it brings out the best out of me when you see the names and they're very familiar and you know who they are and you go through your scouting report stuff as if it was a normal game.'
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In the clubhouse the next morning, Skubal wanted to clarify: He's not exactly volunteering for the cross-state trips to face the New York Mets in Port St. Lucie or the St. Louis Cardinals in Jupiter. But he doesn't mind the travel. He craves the competition.
And over the course of the 20 minutes that followed, he offered a telling look into the mind of a certified ace on the quest for more.
In the mind of Skubal, there is no lack of drive.
'He told me he wants to travel every (spring) start,' Hinch said. 'I'm gonna talk him off that ledge by the time we get back next season.'
Perhaps you saw Skubal over the winter. Maybe on TV. Maybe on a podcast. Maybe dapping up Phoenix Suns star Devin Booker. Maybe on the sidelines at an Arizona Cardinals game, or on the jumbotron at Ford Field wearing a Detroit Lions jersey, or in the bowels of the Breslin Center, snapping a picture with Michigan State coach Tom Izzo.
At the BBWAA Awards banquet, where Skubal accepted his Cy Young Award after a season in which he led the American League in wins (18), ERA (2.39) and strikeouts (228), he sat next to Tracy Morgan, who joked Skubal should host 'Saturday Night Live.'
'After you win an award, people want to get you places and do cool things,' Skubal said. 'I'm not gonna say no to that.'
Visible as Skubal was all winter, truth is his celebrity remains nascent. Tigers prospect Max Clark has seven times Skubal's 58,200 followers on Instagram. Paul Skenes has more than 10 times the amount. Perhaps some of the offseason media tour was a concerted effort by Skubal's representatives at Boras Corporation to begin expanding his brand. The Tigers have also rightfully touted their main attraction.
Regardless, the off-the-field spoils are nice. But those around the Tigers will tell you Skubal hasn't changed a bit.
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'It's awesome to watch him relish in that attention but not change the human,' Hinch said. 'He's still very humble. He still works as hard as ever. He's still very respectful to his opponent. And he knows that there's a lot more attention on him than ever before. I see it as a huge positive for the world getting to know Tarik the way we know him.'
Now Skubal arrives at a crux that has derailed many athletes before him. What do you do when you finally achieve the success you craved for so long? The psychological concept of arrival fallacy tells us that awards and milestones do not bring lasting happiness. You can be proud one instant and searching all over again the next.
'That's the battle and challenge for me,' Skubal said. 'I had a really good season last year. Cool. Nobody cares about that this year. Not one guy in here cares.'
The great ones are wired differently. Intent on finding the next edge. Skubal is one of those. At 6-foot-3, with his big, forceful delivery, Skubal last year displayed both pinpoint command and next-level stuff. He has the making of a pitcher who could continue to dominate for years to come. He threw 192 innings in the regular season last year. He wants to throw 200 this season.
'Those are kind of the horses around the league that do that, and I want to be one of those guys,' Skubal said.
He also understands the pitfalls of the modern game. He has already been through Tommy John surgery and a flexor tendon repair. More than any numbers, 'I'm just looking to be healthy, and when I'm healthy, I'm pretty good,' he said.
Tarik Skubal shares the story of how Scott Boras wooed him away from another agency
'He basically sat me down (with) every single number of draft, arbitration, free-agent contracts, contracts … And the numbers weren't particularly close.'
Full episode: https://t.co/F7dd5KtQQz pic.twitter.com/qfml6ZOFLx
— Tiger Territory (@TigerTerritory_) February 3, 2025
This presents a perplexing paradox. Legions of Tigers fans are pleading for the team to offer Skubal an otherworldly extension. Scott Boras' clients almost never take such deals before testing free agency. Multiple agents probed at this year's Winter Meetings give the Tigers a near-zero chance of extending Skubal.
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The other fact at play: Hyping up pitchers in 2025 comes with built-in pushback. Injuries are part of the deal when you throw 100 mph with wicked spin. There is always risk at hand.
The Tigers have control of Skubal for two more seasons. How they handle the remainder of his tenure — extend, trade or let walk — could impact the franchise for years to come. Skubal has consistently deflected all related questions. He'll let his agents handle the business, he says.
While the future lurks in the back of everyone's mind in Detroit, a moment from last October gnawed at Skubal all winter. The grand slam Skubal surrendered to the Cleveland Guardians' Lane Thomas in Game 5 of the American League Division Series served as the motivation for early mornings and extra reps. At one point in Game 4, the Tigers were seven outs away from advancing to the ALCS. They lost Game 5 with their ace on the mound.
Skubal wants the Tigers to be back on that stage.
'I think everyone got a taste of it,' he said. 'I think you become addicted to that taste.'
One thing that could aid Skubal in his quest for greater heights: He still carries chips on his shoulder from the path he took to get here. The story is widely known: from a small town in Arizona, only one Division I offer, a ninth-round draft pick after surgery upended his college career. Even the Tigers organization didn't entirely know what it had. Easy to forget Skubal came out of the bullpen in eight of his first nine minor-league games.
'So that tells you what the organization thought about me when they drafted me, right?' Skubal said. 'And then I kind of proved I'm not a reliever. I'm a starter and I'm gonna be a good one.'
There's also an important distinction here. Ask Skubal how he keeps his underdog mentality after winning the Cy Young, and the pitcher peels back a layer. Despite the story, he's never loved the term underdog. In Skubal's mind, that implies a lovable loser, a plucky team or player who no one thought had a chance.
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'I have never viewed myself as a guy who's just happy to be here,' Skubal said. 'I'm not happy to just be here and show up and check boxes and accrue service time and pay. I'm here to try to win.
'I just think there's a slight difference in the mentality of being an underdog versus just being a dog.'
One thing that's impossible to deny: Skubal's life is profoundly different than it was only a few years ago.
In 2017, he was a college lefty at Seattle University. He still had long hair and a goofy smile. More than once, he trekked to T-Mobile Park to watch Félix Hernández pitch for the Seattle Mariners. Four years later, he found himself facing off against King Felix in a spring training game, as the 2010 Cy Young Award winner failed to make the Orioles.
'I was like, 'Yeah, he kind of had a shorter career,'' Skubal said. 'That's what I was thinking. Then I looked up his Baseball-Reference. It was seven years of, like, dominance. Probably one of the best seven-year runs in the game. That just put it in perspective for me.'
Skubal might not be setting specific statistical goals. But he knows how high the standard for greatness is. Skubal has scrolled the stat pages for Justin Verlander and Hall of Famers. There's a respect for the way such pitchers post year in and year out. The longevity can be intimidating. It also provides a roadmap.
'Look at Verlander, look at Gerrit Cole, look at Scherzer, go look at Pedro, Randy, Roger. The game's best,' Skubal said. 'Their seasons are what I did last year for seven seasons in a row. It's just insane. … I've had, what, 2 1/2 years of really good baseball? So I got five more to put together before I can start putting myself in those conversations.'
Before Skubal was ever publicly talking about greatness, he spent the spring of 2020 living with fellow pitcher Casey Mize. The two young arms rode in together from Tampa before sunrise every morning. Mize was a No. 1 overall pick. Skubal was just barely getting on the radar. Their careers have since taken different paths. Mize has battled injuries and inconsistency and had to reassert himself just to earn a spot in the Tigers' rotation. Skubal has blossomed into one of the best pitchers in the world.
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In a way, this is a reminder of how mercurial and fleeting baseball success really is. Mize is a diligent worker. Does the right things. It's just never fully clicked.
Still, he's able to step back and appreciate how far his friend has come. Outside the Tigers' clubhouse at the end of spring training, Mize rattled off the Skubal mythology in his own words: Later-round draft pick, beat up in his debut season, injured as soon as he tasted success. Obsessed with preparation. Still not satisfied.
'We've kind of been together every step of the way,' Mize said. 'You stack consistent, quality work, good decisions and good preparation, and you get Tarik Skubal.'
There is a long list of people who helped shape Tarik Skubal's journey to the top of his sport.
One of them is Wil Jones, the kid who joined the Skubal household in high school, the one Skubal now calls a 'role model' and a brother. https://t.co/Ma9U7T6PWu pic.twitter.com/eguBJE9vc8
— Cody Stavenhagen (@CodyStavenhagen) September 30, 2024
Even as Skubal began finding his footing in the big leagues, it took time for the rest of the sport to take notice. People butchered his name, called him Tar-eek or Skoo-ball. Then came more strikeouts, fist pumps and accolades.
This winter, officials at the MLBPA asked Skubal to join the league's eight-member executive subcommittee, essentially a leadership group for the union. Skubal initially said no.
'I don't think I'm going to put as much time into it as I should,' Skubal said.
MLBPA officials asked him again. Skubal relented. He would do it, but only if someone else nominated him. That nomination at union meetings eventually came from Texas Rangers second baseman Marcus Semien, a three-time All-Star and union stalwart.
'I think it speaks to guys got a lot of respect for me, which is not taken for granted,' Skubal said. 'I'm a believer in how you do anything is how you do everything. So I'm gonna put my best foot forward for this and be a good resource for not only this clubhouse but guys around the league.'
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This is Skubal entering the 2025 season. He is the biggest name on the Tigers, a force to be feared on the mound, a player respected amongst his peers, and a pitcher hungry for more.
'I'm not trying to add a new pitch or do something crazy like that,' Skubal said. 'But I can hammer out my routine to where I'm more consistent. The command can always get better. Until I'm executing 100 pitches in a row, I still have something to work on.'
Skubal will start Opening Day for the Tigers against the defending champion Dodgers in Los Angeles. Then it's on to Seattle.
In the same stadium where he once sat in the nosebleeds and watched another ace throw, his alma mater has arranged for a special ticket package in the Mariners' Trident deck.
They're calling it Tarik Skubal Night.