The ace is back.
Detroit Tigers manager A.J. Hinch announced Thursday that back-to-back American League Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal will return to the rotation on Saturday against the Cleveland Guardians.
“We’re adding the best pitcher in baseball,” Hinch said. “It’s hard to describe the boost that will be. ”[It] can’t be overstated.”
Remarkably, the start will come just 38 days after the 29-year-old lefty underwent arthroscopic surgery on his pitching elbow. Initially expected to have loose bodies removed from his elbow, the surgery proved to be less invasive than expected and bumped up Skubal’s return timeline.
In his seventh season out of Seattle University, Skubal hasn’t started since an Apr. 29 game against the Atlanta Braves. In seven starts this season, Skubal is 3-2 with a 2.70 earned run average and 0.946 WHIP over 43.1 innings pitched. He’s struck out 45 batters and walked six.
Skubal is playing on a one-year, $32 million arbitration award. He is set to become a free agent at season’s end and the most coveted prize of the offseason.
