Detroit Tigers Ace Tarik Skubal Earns High Praise From Executives and Scouts

The Detroit Tigers sit in first place in the American League Central with a firm grasp, up six games above the Cleveland Guardians. A big reason for that is Tarik Skubal, who is arguably the best pitcher in baseball. An underrated prospect, Skubal rose in prospect rankings and showed signs of excellence in 2022 and 2023 before breaking out in a big way last season.

Skubal's 2024 season was dominant. Leading all pitchers with 6.4 bWAR, Skubal's 2.39 ERA, 174 ERA+, and league-leading 228 strikeouts earned him a unanimous AL Cy Young win. After such a huge breakout, he solidified himself as one of the best pitchers in baseball. With his 2025 season so far, no one would argue that he is the best in baseball now.

Executives and scouts agree, according to a poll done by Baseball America. They were to give votes on which players have the best tools, and Skubal showed up often.

Skubal has two pitches in which he was considered top three in the American League. First is his fastball, where he comes in third.

Interestingly, Skubal's fastball is not his most used pitch, as is the case with most starters. Thrown 28 percent of the time, the fastball sits in the high 90s, often touching 100 mph. Opposing hitters have hit .201 and slugged .322 against it this season, according to Baseball Savant. It's in the 98th percentile for Fastball Run Value, but isn't even his best pitch.

That would be his changeup, which is arguably the best in baseball. He ranked number one in "Best Changeup," according to the poll.

At 32.1 percent, it is Skubal's most used offering. It has accounted for 95 of his 187 strikeouts on the season, compared to 55 on the fastball. He gets an opposing batting average of .161 with a .231 slugging percentage when throwing the change.

With a 47.6 whiff percentage and 31.5 put away percentage, it's one of the elite strikeout pitches in baseball. His Offspeed Run Value is in the 100th percentile.

Along with two elite pitches, Skubal comes out on top in terms of control, as well. In 2024, Skubal had a BB/9 of 1.6 compared to a 10.7 K/9. He has improved on that even more this season, lowering his walks per nine to 1.3 and increasing his strikeouts per nine to 11.6. His walk rate of 3.8 percent is in the 99th percentile.

Combine all of these factors, and the voters slotted him number one in the "Best Pitcher" category. He's on his way to a second dominant season in a row and likely another Cy Young. For the sake of this poll, he was pit against American League pitchers, but he likely would be at the top of most categories in both leagues, too.

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