Detroit Tigers Ace Reveals Which Pitches He Hasn't Been Able To Master Just Yet

Detroit Tigers ace Tarik Skubal is arguably the best starting pitcher in baseball right now.

He is armed with a devastating two-pitch combo -- his fastball and changeup -- that the rest of his arsenal plays off of to a dominating effect.

Both rate amongst the best pitches in the game, with a legitimate argument to be made that his change up is the single best offering in the MLB.

That is what helped propel him to winning the American Leauge Cy Young Award unanimously in 2024 while taking home the Triple Crown with an 18-4 record, 2.39 ERA and 228 strikeouts.

The wins, strikeouts and his 6.4 WAR were all the best in baseball. His .818 winning percentage, ERA, ERA+ of 170 and FIP of 2.49 were all tops in the AL.

He has gotten off to another strong start in 2025 through five starts, tossing 28.2 innings with a 2.83 ERA and 29 strikeouts.

However, there is one thing missing that he has been working tirelessly to figure out; a slider.

The one he possesses is already a solid offering, which serves as a great complement to his fastball and changeup that has all of the numbers to stand out singularly.

But, that isn’t the kind of breaking pitch he wants to have.

The kind of slider he desires is the one that Los Angeles Dodgers legend Clayton Kershaw possesses.

He spends entire offseasons tinkering with grips, finger pressure, wrist alignment and release points, but he has not been able to replicate it to the levels he wants.

"I've been trying to get Kershaw's slider for four or five years and I can't get it. I just can't get it," Skubal said, via MLB insider Jeff Passan of ESPN. "So it's frustrating. But at the same time, the beauty of the sport is you're just one cue away from getting the pitch shape you want or getting the velocity."

The Tigers star has been on the other end of this conundrum, as well.

This past offseason, he worked closely with San Francisco Giants veteran Robbie Ray and taught him the nuances of his devastating changeup.

A former Cy Young winner himself, Ray was looking to expand his repertoire to help get his career back on track after Tommy John surgery derailed him.

Ray looked good during spring training showcasing the pitch that Skubal taught him, but Detroit’s ace hasn’t had any such luck tinkering on his own.

The Kershaw slider isn’t the only pitch that has left him befuddled in an attempt to replicate.

He has also found no success in incorporating a sweeper into the mix.

"I've been trying to throw a sweeper for three years," Skubal said, "but I can't get the ball to sweep."

Already dominant on the mound, it is hard to envision that there is another level he could unlock by mastering one of these breaking pitches.

The lack of a slider and sweeper certainly isn’t hurting him since his stuff is grading out better in 2025 thus far than it did during his award-winning 2024 campaign.

That is a scary thing for hitters to come to grips with, as the best pitcher in baseball hasn’t even reached his peak yet.

"I'm like, dude, I know. But I'm so (expletive) close to getting something really good," Skubal said. "I'm just waiting for the right grip and the right cue to come through. And I'm going to get it."

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