Detroit Tigers: Tarik Skubal is making improvements as the year goes on
By Tyler Kotila
The Detroit Tigers are approaching the midseason break, and it’s time to reflect on some of the team’s storylines. While the Tigers are heading into the all-star break and Gregory Soto departs for Colorado, Tarik Skubal is the focus of this quick piece.
The 2021 Detroit Tigers season has not been too kind to Tarik Skubal, but even after a rough start to the year, he has figured things out and improved. Skubal continues to improve on the mound, and it’s starting to help him level out his stats.
The Tigers have seen Skubal morph into a top-flight prospect after being a former ninth-round prospect of the organization. Skubal’s rise to being one of the team’s more exciting prospects was electric and happened swiftly after he lit it up in the minors.
In 2020, the southpaw finally got his promotion in the team’s monumental call-up of him and Casey Mize. Skubal’s call-up was huge, letting him get his first chances in the big league, which set him up in a good spot for the 2021 season.
The Detroit Tigers are seeing Tarik Skubal show improvements as the 2021 season continues.
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In his first season in the big leagues, he did not quite get the results he wanted on the statistics front, but he has worked on his stuff and hoped to be better in 2021.
Last season while making his debut, Skubal pitched in eight games, seven as a starter, logging 32 innings where he had a 5.63 ERA and a 1.22 WHIP.
It was not the results the young southpaw was looking for, but 2021 did not treat him any better to start.
As it stands now, Skubal has a 4.36 ERA and a 1.38 WHIP, with 105 punchouts over 88.2 innings pitched on 18 appearances.
A demotion to the pen for two outings was thought to help him figure things out and get back on track. The first month of the year was pretty brutal for Skubal, but May had him take a step in the right direction.
After that, Skubal was able to piece together one heck of a month of June. In June, Skubal logged five starts, totaling 28.2 innings pitched with a 3.14 ERA, a 1.22 WHIP, and 37 punchouts. The big lefty offers a great fastball, a stellar breaking ball, and mixes in a changeup as well.
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There’s still plenty to like with Skubal the hope is that he can still be a part of this team’s future rotation. Skubal is starting to figure things out, and hopefully, he can carry that into the second half of the season.