Detroit

Tigers

It’s a pretty remarkable turnaround for Skubal, who had elbow surgery to remove a bone chip a little over five weeks ago. He looked good in his rehab start at High-A thjs week with velocities that were in line with what we saw from him during the year. He can be fired up with confidence this weekend.

Valdez only struck out two while allowing two homers, raising his ERA to 4.40. The current mark is his highest since 2019, as the lefty has consistently been below 3.75. In 2026 he’s combining a slightly diminished ground-ball rate with a career-low strikeout rate. His next scheduled start is a rematch against his former team in Houston.

Torres has been hot since returning from the injured list in early June as he’s hitting .379 across seven games. The veteran second baseman has hit first, second, or third in every game he has started for Detroit this season. He’s running the highest walk rate of his career so far in 2026.

Jansen threw 22 pitches in his first rehab outing since hitting the injured list with pelvic inflammation back on May 28. The 38-year-old veteran stopper’s velocity was on par with his previous levels and he figures to be ready to return to Detroit’s bullpen later this week.

Verlander struck out three and issued a pair of walks. He gave up only five hits, but four of them wound up leaving the yard. The encouraging news here is that he averaged 92.9 mph on his fastball, topping out at 95.5 mph, and threw 53 of 86 pitches for strikes in his likely final rehab outing. The 43-year-old veteran has been out since early April due to a hip issue. He’ll likely rejoin Detroit’s rotation at some point early next week.

Waguespack has posted a strong 1.66 ERA and 33/15 K/BB ratio across 21 2/3 innings for Triple-A Nashville this season. The 32-year-old journeyman presumably has a chance to pitch out of the Tigers’ bullpen in the near future. He hasn’t appeared in the majors since making four appearances for the Rays back in 2024.

It’s still kind of hard to see Dingler ending the season in the running for AL MVP honors, but he’s very much on the short list through 57 games. All four of his balls in play tonight were hard hit, and he’s batting .248//329/. 528 with 16 homers and 48 RBI while also performing as one of the league’s top defensive catchers to date. He’s tied for 11th in the majors in homes and fifth in RBI.

All four homers were solo shots, and Melton struck out five and walked none in improving to 3-0. He joined Logan Gilbert in earning a win this season despite allowing four homers. It typically happens once or twice a year: Tony Gonsolin was the only pitcher to do it last season, and Sonny Gray and Kutter Crawford were the two pitchers to pull it off in 2024. Melton should get the Astros on the road and the White Sox at home next week, making him a nice streaming option.

Casey Mize averaged 93 mph on his fastball and topped out at 94.8 mph during the 55-pitch outing, according to MLB.com’s Jason Beck. He finished with five strikeouts and only issued one walk. He’ll likely require at least one additional tune-up outing to continue building up his pitch count before returning to Detroit’s rotation.

All indications are that Skubal will be cleared afterwards to make his lightning-quick return to Detroit’s rotation with a start against the Guardians later this week. He’ll make it back from an innovative NanoScope procedure to remove loose bodies from his elbow roughly five weeks after the procedure. The 29-year-old fantasy ace punched out six batters over five shutout innings during a 54-pitch minor league rehab start for High-A West Michigan on Sunday.