Tarik

Skubal

Skubal’s final spring start was far from his best, although he did strike out five and didn’t issue a walk. The defending Cy Young winner will be on the bump against the Padres on Thursday in San Diego. If you’re at all concerned about Skubal’s spring numbers, maybe go for a walk or go see a movie and stop thinking about baseball for a while.

The run came on a Daulton Varsho homer in the fourth. Back from the World Baseball Classic, Skubal remains in line to start on Opening Day. He threw 44 of his 61 pitches for strikes today, and he has a 12/1 K/BB in 9 2/3 innings in his three spring starts for the Tigers.

Team USA could not guarantee Holmes enough innings to stay ready for the regular season, so back to Mets camp he goes. Also exiting the Team USA roster for the quarterfinal round are Michael Wacha, Ryan Yarbrough, and Tarik Skubal. Replacements for those three are Will Vest, Tyler Rogers, and Tim Hill. The team has not yet announced a replacement for Holmes, but Joe Ryan is expected to be in the mix.

The 29-year-old southpaw plans to leave after Monday’s contest against Mexico to rejoin the Tigers’ camp in Lakeland. Skubal had been pushing to make another start after taking the mound against Great Britain over the weekend, and it sounds like the Tigers were going to support his decision, so either he had a change of heart or his agent, Scott Boras, shut the idea down. Now he’ll finish getting himself ready for his Opening Day assignment against the Padres.

The original plan had been for the star southpaw to make just one start in the tournament before returning to Tigers’ camp, but Skubal said after Saturday’s start, “I didn’t expect these types of emotions to run through my brain or my thoughts to differ. I was pretty committed to making a start and getting back to camp. Things have changed, obviously.” It’s nice to see that type of passion from the 29-year-old left-hander. Hopefully Boras and the Tigers sign off on the decision, and we get to see Skubal pitch for the Red, White and Blue once again during the tournament.

Skubal gave up a homer to Nate Eaton on the very first pitch of the game, but he retired nine of 10 after that, striking out five in the process. Ken Rosenthal tried to talk him into pitching again for Team USA after his outing, but Skubal deflected the question. It’s already been decided between he and the Tigers that he’d make just the one start.

Webb will be followed by Tigers ace Tarik Skubal against Great Britain before Pirates stalwart Paul Skenes toes the rubber against Mexico with Mets rookie sensation Nolan McLean rounding out the pool play rotation against Italy. The international showcase kicks off later this week with the quarterfinals set to begin on Friday, March 13.

We’re inclined to believe Nightengale on this one since Skubal is unlikely to approach the century mark in an abbreviated outing at this early stage of his ramp-up process. The two-time AL Cy Young Award winner will head back to rejoin the Tigers following his lone outing during the international showcase.

The two-time reigning American League Cy Young Award winner struck out one and walked one on the afternoon. He cruised through his first two innings unscathed, but ran into trouble in the third as Rafael Lantigua worked a leadoff walk and Sean Keys smacked a one-out double to right. Jonathan Clase then followed with a two-run double to left-center. Skubal got four whiffs on 44 pitches on the day, posting an uncharacteristically low CSW of just 20 percent. It’s just one spring training start, there’s no reason to worry. Skubal is still the top starting pitcher on the board in all fantasy drafts.

Skubal generated eight whiffs on 19 swings in his 31-pitch outing today. He’ll pitch once more for Detroit this weekend before his abbreviated WBC stint with Team USA next week.