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Tarik Skubal at tight end? Tigers manager A.J. Hinch tells Jason Benetti he could see it
Tight end Tarik Skubal? Maybe even slot him in at middle linebacker?
Detroit Tigers manager A.J. Hinch says that he could see it.
Before the Tigers' game Saturday night against the Twins, the team's skipper hopped on the Detroit Lions' broadcast on WJBK (Fox-2) to talk about the other biggest team in town.
Familiar voice Jason Benetti, the Tigers' full-time play-by-play announcer filling in on football for the day, called in a favor to get Hinch in for a quick call about the manager's thoughts on the team rocking Honolulu blue.
After some initial audio issues, Hinch, Benetti and former Lions offensive lineman T.J. Lang joked that it was Benetti's fault that right when Hinch got on the broadcast the Dolphins scored. And Hinch sarcastically agreed.
"I blame Benetti for everything," Hinch said.
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Eventually, Lang broached the topic of what Skubal might look like on a football field, and Hinch said that topic had been broached long ago.
"We actually talked about it. David Shaw and I went to school together," Hinch said. "He just joined the Lions' coaching staff and he came in and said hello, got to go behind the scenes, I introduced him to Tarik and Tarik claimed he wasn't big enough to him to play in the NFL, which is crazy. He could probably play any position.
"We settled on tight end as the spot that he would be, probably more inside the 20 than necessarily in open field. But he's big enough to play on that line."
While it's hard to doubt Skubal's athletic ability, it's safe to say Hinch will do just about anything to keep him on the mound and not the gridiron. Skubal took home the 2024 Cy Young in the American League and is the heavy favorite to repeat in 2025.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Tarik Skubal on the football field? A.J. Hinch says he could do it
