Tigers ace Tarik Skubal speaks out in wake of unexpected injury update

Tarik Skubal comments on injury recovery

On Thursday, Skubal set the record straight on his recovery.

"If you’re not in those conversation, I wouldn’t trust anything you see. Now, I get it. I want to be back as fast as I can, too. What’s going on right now is kind of unprecedented. I don’t know in the history of the game if there’s been a surgery 15 days ago and I’m throwing a one-inning hypothetical start.

“So I get it. I want to be back as fast as possible. I also want to be healthy. It does me no good to come back fast, and then something happens, and I go back on the shelf again. But it is kind of day by day. It is how I feel and how I bounce back. Tomorrow, how I wake up, how I feel is going to be important.”  

Skubal, who won the American League Cy Young award in 2025, had a 3-2 record with a 2.70 ERA before the surgery. He even threw seven innings with just two runs and seven strikeouts on April 29 against the Atlanta Braves in his latest start.

Skubal’s agent, Scott Boras, insisted the Tigers pitcher would be back sooner than expected after they did a special procedure, now named the “Skubal Scope.”

The reigning AL Cy Young winner even saw his name circulate in some trade rumors, especially since Skubal is expected to hit free agency this offseason. However, that speculation was seemingly shut down by several insiders around the league, and the expectation is that the Tigers will ride it out this season wth the southpaw.