Barely more than a month after having a loose body removed from his pitching elbow, two-time reigning Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal will rejoin the Detroit Tigers on Saturday to start against the Guardians, manager A.J. Hinch announced Thursday. Skubal made only one minor-league start, a five-inning appearance in High-A over the weekend. He last pitched for the Tigers on April 29 and had surgery on May 6.
"I need to keep the game of baseball as the game of baseball, especially not trying to make up for the last five weeks I've been gone," Skubal said earlier this week (via the Detroit Free Press). "I can't do that with one pitch or one outing. That'll be the challenge -- to keep the game as the game."
Skubal underwent a new, less invasive procedure called the NanoScope that greatly sped up his rehab. Pitchers are typically sidelined for two or three months following surgery to remove a loose body. Skubal will return in a little more than a month. He's the first pitcher to have this procedure, though Los Angeles Dodgers lefty Blake Snell had his elbow NanoScoped recently as well.
"I think just the next day, I started to feel better," Skubal said last month (via MLB.com). "From other surgeries I've had in the past, you're in a cast and you can't move your arm. This one, I wasn't in one. I was in an arm sleeve and actually encouraged to get back range of motion as fast as I can. Within about 3-4 days, I think, we got there, and I think that was very encouraging."
Skubal made his only minor-league rehab start this past Sunday and was predictably dominant against Single-A hitters. He allowed two hits and walked none in five scoreless innings, and struck out six. Skubal threw 54 pitches and will presumably be on some kind of pitch limit when he rejoins the Tigers later this week.
"There are game situations that should be really easy for a big leaguer," Tigers manager A.J Hinch said Sunday of Skubal's rehab start (via MLB.com). "But it's just getting back into game mode, it's just different than a (simulated) game. The sim game, part of it is physical skill-building, a physical return to play. The mental aspect, the competitive aspect, the bad call, error behind you, there's things you can't simulate in practice. And it's not spring training."
Skubal's early return is great news for a Tigers team that has begun to heat up, but is still facing a big uphill climb to reach the postseason. Even after winning six of their last seven games, Detroit is 28-40 and 5 ½ games out of a wild-card spot with six teams ahead of them. The Tigers have hope because the American League is so watered down, but they've dug themselves a hole.
The 29-year-old Skubal will be a free agent after the season, and if the Tigers are unable to climb back into postseason position, they will have to seriously entertain trading their ace prior to the Aug. 3 deadline. Every contender will want him, especially if the Tigers are willing to eat all or part of the $9 million or so that will remain on his contract at the deadline.
If the Tigers trade Skubal, they figure to trade fellow rentals Casey Mize, Gleyber Torres, and possibly Justin Verlander as well. Verlander returning to Detroit felt like a storybook end to a Hall of Fame career, but if he would prefer to pitch for a contender, the Tigers would presumably try to do right by him and find a trade. Obviously, they hope to avoid that.
Skubal would obviously be the top trade target on a list that could include other starters like the Mets' Freddy Peralta and Marlins' Sandy Alcantara.
Detroit's rotation mostly held its own during Skubal's absence, pitching to a 4.09 ERA and ranking 15th in WAR since his last start. Their offense, though, has badly let them down. The Tigers have averaged only 4.03 runs per game this season, the fifth fewest in baseball. Dillon Dingler, Riley Greene, and rookie Kevin McGonigle have carried the team offensively.
