Detroit Tigers Star ‘An Ace in Any Era’ Rightfully Atop Starting Pitcher Rankings

MLB insiders view the Detroit Tigers ace in a very positive light entering the season.

Mar 27, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; Detroit Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal (29) throws a pitch against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the first inning at Dodger Stadium. | Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

The 2025 regular season didn’t get off to the kind of start that the Detroit Tigers and their ace, Tarik Skubal, were hoping for.

Facing the tall task of going up against the defending World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers on Opening Day, the Tigers came up just short. They lost the game 5-4 as their star had an off night on the mound.

Skubal pitched five innings, allowing six hits and one walk, resulting in four earned runs being scored against him, with only two strikeouts.

That kind of success against the dominant lefty is rarely had. There were only 10 starts in 2024 that a team recorded at least six hits against Skubal and only six that he surrendered four runs; on five of those occasions, at least four were earned.

Only once last year did he record under five strikeouts as well.

Far from the kind of outing that Skubal has become accustomed to providing, but going up against the Dodgers is a tall task; they can make even the best pitchers look human on any given day.

Despite the underwhelming Opening Day outing, it doesn’t change his standing as the best starting pitcher in baseball, which MLB insiders voted him over at The Athletic (paid subscription required) in a piece put together by Andy McCullough, Will Sammon and Sahadev Sharm.

Skubal received the only perfect score of 100 to land as the sole player inside “The Inner Circle” tier of the article.

The evaluators and insiders were running out of superlatives to describe him with as everyone provided the Detroit ace with glowing reviews.

“An ace in any era,” an evaluator said.

“Best there is right now,” one scout said.

What separates Skubal is his ability to beat opponents in various ways. He isn’t overly reliant on one facet of his game to generate outs, which is what makes him so special.

The strike zone is peppered with regularity, but opponents can’t take advantage because he can miss bats with ease. Barrelling up an offering is not easy and he generates ground balls at an impressive rate to limit damage.

Possessing arguably the best changeup in baseball, he pairs it with a fastball he has no qualms about challenging hitters with.

“Skubal is, as another evaluator put it, “a monster not afraid to challenge you with a ‘f— you’ fastball,’” they added in the blurb.

That combination of stuff and command is what led to him winning the American League Cy Young Award in 2024, recording the pitching Triple Crown in the process.

Health was the only knock against him previously but if he can stay healthy, he is going to put together an incredible resume over the next few years stocked with accolades and awards.