Tarik Skubal now has a trophy honoring the best pitcher in the American League to go with his title as winner of the American League pitching Triple Crown.
The Detroit Tigers left-hander unanimously won the American League Cy Young Award on Wednesday, receiving 30 of a possible 30 first-place votes in voting by the Baseball Writers Association of America. It is quite a birthday gift for Skubal, who won the award on the same day he turned 28.
It was a confusing group in the vote behind Lugo. Seth Lugo of the Kansas City Royals finished second with 14 second-place votes, but Emmanuel Clase (Cleveland Guardians), Cole Ragans (Royals), Corbin Burnes (Baltimore Orioles) and Logan Gilbert (Seattle Mariners) were voted by at least one. writer as the best pitcher behind Skubal.
On the National League side, Chris Sale of the Atlanta Braves also took home the award after a pitching triple crown, but it wasn’t a unanimous choice.
Skubal broke through as an ace-level starting pitcher in his first full season with Detroit, finishing with an 18-4 record in 31 starts, a 2.39 ERA and 228 strikeouts in 192 innings. Leading the American League in wins, ERA, and strikeouts made him the aforementioned winner of the pitching Triple Crown.
He was a crucial part of the Tigers’ improbable run to an American League wild card in the playoffs and postseason run to the American League divisional round. During the second half of the season, Skubal posted an 8-1 record in 12 starts and a 2.37 ERA with 88 strikeouts in 76 innings. In September, when Detroit went 17-8 and edged out the Minnesota Twins for a playoff spot, he was an ace with a 1.52 ERA and a 2-0 record in four starts.
Skubal allowed AJ Hinch to indulge in “pitching chaos”
After the Tigers traded Jack Flaherty to the Los Angeles Dodgers at the MLB trade deadline, Skubal was essentially the team’s only reliable starting pitcher. (Detroit also considered trading Skubal, but ultimately decided that keeping him with two seasons of club control was worth more than any team could offer in return.)
Having Skubal anchor the rotation allowed manager AJ Hinch to implement what he called “launch chaos“, in which anyone (starting pitcher or reliever) could start the game on the mound, followed by six pitchers, each of whom called several outs.
That continued into the postseason, although the Cy Young Award is for regular-season recognition.
Skubal defeated the favored Houston Astros in Game 1 of their wild card matchup, pitching six scoreless innings and allowing four hits with six strikeouts. In the divisional round, he kept Detroit in the series, allowing no runs on three hits with eight strikeouts in seven innings in Game 2. When Skubal finally failed in a decisive Game 5, he was punished for five runs on six hits in six innings. , The Tigers’ incredible streak ended.
An unusual path to stardom
The left-hander wasn’t a top prospect out of high school, nor did he pitch for a baseball powerhouse in college. Skubal pitched for Seattle University, a private Jesuit college with an enrollment of 7,500 students and which was the only school to offer him a scholarship.
As a sophomore, he required Tommy John surgery after tearing his ACL and missed the entire 2017 season. As a senior, he posted a 4.16 ERA but struck out 106 batters in 80 innings. That was enough for the Tigers to select him in the ninth round (No. 255 overall) in the 2018 MLB Draft.
After two minor league seasons in which he compiled a 2.03 ERA and averaged 13.1 strikeouts per nine innings, the Tigers called him up to the majors. Skubal found another setback when he needed flexor tendon surgery in 2022, but returned with his strikeout material intact the following season and soon became Detroit’s No. 1 starter.
Skubal has two more seasons of arbitration eligibility and the Tigers would surely like to sign him to a long-term contract extension. However, his agent is Scott Boras, who typically prefers his clients to hit the free agent market. And if Skubal has two more years left like the one he just had, he can probably look forward to a big payday.