ANAHEIM, CA – Let me take a break from the Tarik Skubal drama
Will the Detroit Tigers trade him or will they keep him? Sources say this … friends say that … and this expert over here is saying another thing. … Arrgghh!
I swear, nobody knows anything. Everybody is just spewing hot air, and it’s enough to drive you crazy.
Instead, let’s take a break from that side of the Skubal story, if only for a day.
I wanted to focus on nothing but his pitching after a day he was, you know, actually pitching.
And then it happened.
Of course, it happened.
“How do you block out all the speculation as the trade deadline approaches?” a reporter asked Skubal after he pitched brilliantly in a 7-0 rout of the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday, July 18.
“I mean it’s all out of my control,” Skubal said. “Those questions should be asked towards our front office, not me. You know, I don’t I don’t control any of that.”
You know what Skubal can control? How he pitches.
And the reigning two-time American League Cy Young Award winner threw seven innings for the first time since April 29 – his last start before hitting the injured list and getting groundbreaking elbow surgery. On Saturday, Skubal ripped through nine strikeouts (including 19 whiffs for the second straight game) with no walks, holding the Angels scoreless while scattering five hits.
He had thrown only five innings in each of his previous two starts, which bugged the heck out of him.
“It’s impossible to be Tarik Skubal and not be the center of attention,” said Tigers manager A.J. Hinch, whose team has won two straight over the Angels coming out of the All-Star break. “It doesn’t matter if it’s his day to pitch or not, doesn’t matter what time of year. He’s been incredible at his preparation, and he kind of locks in on all the things that matters to get ready to pitch. It’s all he cares about. He wants his team to win. He comes every day and he is really, really good at not letting much get to him.”
Skubal’s unusual routine
Now, let me note something else about Skubal.
Something I learned recently.
After Skubal pitches, he goes on X.com – what used to be Twitter – and checks out his stats. He follows some dude named @TJStats. It’s not an official MLB account. It’s not even affiliated with the Tigers. It’s just some random dude on social media, followed by a two-time Cy Young winner.
I swear I’m not making this up.
But that’s how the best pitcher on the planet winds down after a game. Checking stats online.
Not just his own. But those of other pitchers.
“I’ve actually like gone back and forth with this guy on Twitter,” Skubal said.
What?
“Well, he was he was clipping my pitches wrong,” Skubal said.
Hey, that’s a four-seamer.
“Make sure he’s got it right,” Skubal said, smiling.
But it’s also a way for Skubal to keep up with what’s happening around the league. What other guys are doing.
“Plus daily whiff leaders,” Skubal said. “I don’t know, I find it very interesting.”
Then, the day after he pitches, Skubal will study the Tigers’ analytics.
“Ours are a lot more in depth and they’re clipped,” he said.
You know what Skubal does next?
He goes back and watches every pitch that he throws from each start. The Tigers have a fancy system where Skubal can view each pitch and see all the stats and metrics.
That way, he can go: Wow, this was great. Let me repeat that.
Fascinating.
“I usually do that on my conditioning day,” he said.
When a Skubal mistake is the plan
Skubal sat at his locker, holding a clinic on command.
So, I asked him: “Do you aim for a certain place. Like, do you think about throwing a high fastball? Or do you change your mechanics, to do it, even if you don’t think about it?”
And he had a fascinating answer.
Basically, he works off his misses.
“For me – this is very specific to me, this is probably not very applicable to a lot of guys,” Skubal said. “Sometimes when I want to go up and away, I think down and away. So, I know that doesn’t make any sense.”
But that’s what he thinks on the mound.
When the catcher calls for a high pitch, he tries to throw it down and away.
“My miss is up,” he said. “I know that’s my miss. So I’ll try to go down and away, and if it’s executed perfectly down and away, it’s probably a called strike three. If it’s not, it’s probably top of the zone where we’re trying to go.”
So, some his best pitches are calculated mistakes. And some of his mistakes are actually perfect pitches.
Yep, it might not make sense.
But it works for him.
It’s like a golfer playing a draw.
“If I’m going down and away with the slider, I’m not looking down and away,” he said. “I’m actually looking like three balls off the plate because I know it’s coming back.”
None of this is unusual. It’s a typical topic in the Tigers clubhouse.
“We actually talk about it a lot,” Skubal said. “We talk about our miss pattern. My miss pattern with my sinker, I tend to let it run across the plate. So when I go in, I really need to go in.”
So, on Saturday night, you know what helped him?
His four-seam fastball.
“My four-seamer actually surprised me a lot today, up and in, where I was like, ‘Whoa, that’s kind of perfect,’” Skubal said. “First one to [Mike] Trout was perfect, and I’m like, that usually that doesn’t happen too often, so you kind of mentally notice.”
“Where is your miss with that pitch?” I asked. “Where’s your aim?”
“Up middle, and then it’ll cut kind of in,” Skubal said. “And it was perfect. I’m like, nice, you know. And the sinker later in the game, the sinker to Trout was kind of off-to-on [moving from off the plate to over it], and I’m like, nice job. Yeah, like, nice.”
So, on the night that Skubal threw seven innings for the first time since his surgery, he was thinking about his four-seamer. He was thinking about helping his team win. He was thinking about some nastiness that he threw to Mike Trout, who was coming off his 12th All-Star nod on Tuesday.
For the record, though, he was not thinking – in any way – about the trade deadline.
That will take care of itself.
Contact Jeff Seidel: jseidel@freepress.com. Follow him on X @seideljeff.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Secret of success for Tarik Skubal ahead of 2026 MLB trade deadline? His misses at the plate
Reporting by Jeff Seidel, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Jeff Seidel, Detroit Free Press | USA TODAY Network
