Tigers’ AJ Hinch shares crucial Tarik Skubal injury update

“Step by step, we aren’t trying to get ahead of ourselves,” Hinch said. “He’s already done his second bullpen, and that was done at a pace that could never have been predicted. Every day we are talking to the doctor, we are trying to put more on his plate to challenge the historical ways of how long these injuries take, and what he is actually feeling. It’s been awesome to see. His descriptions are even better than his throwing. He is going to be back earlier than originally anticipated.”

As Hinch mentioned above, Skubal recently threw a bullpen session. The good news is that it seems like the scariest part of this process is over. If Skubal is on the mound, throwing, then he likely isn’t experiencing much discomfort. With how the Tigers are playing right now as a team, there is zero chance they rush him back. However, if the Tigers flip the switch and start crawling back in the AL playoff picture, then we could see Skubal back earlier than expected.