St. Petersburg, Fla. – If you were charting this thing, the day that Tarik Skubal truly went from rehabber to full-on competitor might’ve been Monday.
“Yeah, his reactions are starting to get even more competitive,” manager AJ Hinch said after Skubal threw an impressive, 64-pitch, four-up simulated game at Tropicana Field. “To me, that signals he’s getting closer to pitching competitively than he is rehabbing.”
That determination will be made Tuesday or Wednesday after the trainers and coaching staff see how Skubal recovers physically. The next step, if he came out of it as strong he thought he did, would be a minor-league rehab start this weekend.
That puts him on track, if we’re to put the cart before the horse, to return on Friday, June 12 at Cleveland.
“The execution was a lot better today,” said Skubal, who had an arthroscopic procedure to remove a loose body in his elbow on May 6. “Today was like who I am on the mound.”
Skubal was commanding his high-velocity sinker to his glove side, inside on right-handed hitters. There were no public velocity readings, but he said he was throwing normal and normal is 97-98 mph.
He was also spinning his slider backdoor to righties and stealing the occasional strike with his curveball.
And, on Skubal’s request, Hinch mixed in some pitcher-fielding interludes throughout the session.
“I think it was another great day,” Skubal said. “Another positive day. I feel great. I went through all my post-throwing stuff in the training room and the weight room and it feels great right now. I need to sleep well and wake up and see how I feel tomorrow. But I don’t expect anything to be different.”
There weren’t many balls hit fair or hard off him. One of them, though, was a laser in the left-center gap by Jake Rogers.
“F-7,” Skubal immediately said, indicating that it would’ve been caught by the left fielder. “We were playing a shift.”
Good try. It was one of just two hits he yielded, though Jahmai Jones hit a couple of rockets foul.
Skubal threw 45 strikes, struck out six of the 15 hitters he faced (a rotation of righties Jones, Rogers and Short), with 10 swings and misses.
“Man, it was just great to see him throwing the ball the way he did today,” Hinch said.
The competitor came out of him again afterward when he was asked about the swirling trade rumors and the general sense that the Tigers are already being counted out in 2026.
His reaction to that was as encouraging as his outing.
“I still believe in this group,” he said. “And that will never waver. I get to watch all the work they put in. I get to watch them prepare. I get to watch all the behind-the-scenes stuff. It may not be showing up in the win column, but as far as how I’ve handled myself, I’m going to trust the process and I’m going to trust these guys.
“Obviously, adjustments need to be made because we’re not winning baseball games. But I know these guys and I am very confident in our ability to go out and compete and win games. And that can start by winning the game tonight.”
And winning, he said, is the fastest way to quiet the rumor mill.
“That stuff is all out of my control so why would I ever worry about it,” he said. “It goes with everything. It gets circulated through the media. I don’t have control or say over what other people say or what their opinions are. I care about the opinions of the guys in this clubhouse.
“With all this trade stuff, we just have to start winning baseball games. Then you can start putting that stuff to the side. Last year, there was not one word about me being traded. Winning calms all that stuff down.”
Just like it did in 2024.
“Yeah, the fact that we did it in 2024 gives me some calm,” he said. “When this ship can be rocking a little bit right now, it gives everyone a sense of calm because we’ve been counted out before. And that’s fine. Rightfully so. And we’re being counted out right now.
“It’s a back-against-the-wall thing right now. So let’s see who we really are and see how we fight. I’ve seen it before and that gives me a ton of confidence in this group.”
Tigers at Rays
First pitch: 6:40 p.m. Tuesday, Tropicana Park, St. Petersburg, Florida
TV/radio: Detroit Sports Net, 97.1/107.9 FM
Scouting report
RHP Jack Flaherty (0-7, 5.81), Tigers: He’s the first Tigers’ starter to lose his first seven decisions since Jordan Zimmermann in 2019. But his last start was a strong step in a positive direction. He struck out nine and had 20 swings-and-misses in 5.2 innings, with just one walk. He was attacking the strike zone and beating hitters in the zone, which was probably the best sign.
LHP Steven Matz (4-2, 4.67), Rays: He’s coming off a rough one against the Orioles (six earned runs in three innings) and he hasn’t thrown more than 67 pitches in his last two starts. He’s still pitching off a 93-mph sinker, throwing changeups and a nasty curveball off it to right-handed hitters. Lefties get a lot of sinkers and sliders. He’s battled his command a fair bit. His 9.2% walk rate is a career high.
Chris.McCosky@detroitnews.com
@cmccosky
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Tarik Skubal getting close to returning after 64-pitch simulated game
Reporting by Chris McCosky, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
