Dodgers Made a Small Change to Tarik Skubal’s Strategy On the Mound

Since Los Angeles acquired the ace before the trade deadline, his pitch selection has slightly changed.

Tarik Skubal’s ERA has dropped from 2.79 with the Tigers this year to 2.52 with the Dodgers. | Erick W. Rasco/Sports Illustrated

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📺 Breakdown of the Week

One of the many fascinating revelations Tarik Skubal shared with me for our upcoming SI cover piece was how he puts his entire trust in his catcher when it comes to pitch selection. That approach becomes more interesting when you change teams midseason. Skubal had more catchers in his first seven starts with the Dodgers (Hunter Feduccia, Ben Rortvedt and Will Smith) than he did in his previous 70 starts with the Tigers (Dillon Dingler and Jake Rogers).

A pattern has emerged in how the Dodgers’ catchers call pitches for Skubal as compared to the Tigers’ choices: he is leaning more into his changeup (his best pitch) and backing off his sinker (his fourth best pitch). He threw more changeups in his first month with Los Angeles (179) than he did in any month in his career. As the following chart shows, his use of his changeup has risen from 25.1% to 28.8%.

MLB

Skubal’s tweak to his arsenal as a Dodger is even more interesting when you dive into what he throws when he’s in trouble. With the Tigers, Skubal threw his four-seamer more than any other pitch with runners in scoring position (37%). With the Dodgers, the changeup has been his No. 1 choice with RISP (36%).

Skubal Pitch Choice with RISP, 2026

Pitch Type	Tigers	Dodgers	Difference
Four-seam fastball	37%	33%	-4%
Changeup	29%	36%	+7%
Slider	14%	14%	-
Sinker	20%	14%	-6%
Curveball	1%	3%	+2%

Like the Rays, the Dodgers believe in leaning into your best pitch, especially in tight spots. How good is Skubal’s changeup? It has the highest whiff rate of any changeup in MLB (46.8%). It also is among the very best at getting out of jams:

Lowest Avg Allowed on Changeups with RISP, 2026 (Min. 125 pitches)

Pitcher	No. of Changeups	BA
1. Bradgley Rodriguez, Padres	162	.108
2. Tarik Skubal, Doders	121	.128
3. Martin Perez, Braves	186	.132
4. Eduardo Rodriguez, D-Backs	174	.133

📺 TV on TV This Week

Thursday, Sept. 17: Phillies at Mets, 7:15 p.m. ET (Fox)

Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor arrived in the big leagues in 2015 as a premier defender with questions about how much pop he had in his bat. Across 416 minor league games he hit just 23 home runs and slugged .387.

Eleven years later, Lindor is one of the greatest power hitting shortstops in the history of the game who is on the Hall of Fame highway. His career slugging in the majors is .472, behind only Joe Cronin (.475) among shortstops with at least 1,500 games at the position.

His next home run will be career No. 300. He will become only the 27th player with 300 home runs and 200 stolen bases, but the first with 1,500 games at shortstop. 

Lindor has hit 292 of his home runs while playing shortstop, tying him with Miguel Tejada for third on the all-time list and within range of passing Alex Rodriguez (344) and Cal Ripken Jr. (346) to become the all-time home run leader while playing shortstop.

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