Detroit Tigers Superstar Finds Continued Dominance in Key Statistic

The Detroit Tigers have an elite talent on their hands, and he has continued his pitching dominance into the beginning of the 2025 season.

Apr 8, 2025; Detroit, Michigan, USA; Detroit Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal (29) pitches in the fifth inning against the New York Yankees at Comerica Park. | Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images

The Detroit Tigers have had a strong first few series in 2025, putting themselves at the top of the American League Central with a 13-9 record.

Despite a multitude of injuries to key players, including 12 players currently on the injured list, they have managed to overcome them and put together quite an impressive showing early on this year.

This success has heavily been backed by the pitching staff, especially Tarik Skubal, the superstar ace of the Tigers who has cemented himself as an elite starter in the MLB over the last few years.

Last season was no doubt his best year, landing the American League Cy Young Award and an All-Star appearance on the back of a 2.39 ERA, a 0.922 WHIP and 228 strikeouts to 35 walks.

This year has started off in an exceptional manner for him as well. In five starts, he has a 2-2 record, a 2.83 ERA, a 1.116 WHIP, 29 strikeouts to five walks and a 142 ERA+.

While not yet as impressive as his last two campaigns, it has been a strong showing for him, and he continues to be dominant as he pushes for another high-profile season and potentially a large-scale extension.

One of the notable statistics this season for him has been his ability to generate swings, as his swing percentage from opposing batters sits at 53.6% according to Baseball Savant. Among pitchers who have faced 100 batters this season, he ranks fifth in that category.

His changeup has been very impressive with 43.0% whiff rate, as opposed to his other three primary pitches (excluding his rarely used knuckle curve) which have a whiff rate of 21.6%.

This shows how truly dominant his changeup has been this season, with nearly half of the occurrences of him pitching it resulting in a swing, and the contact being made with it is extremely low with a .179 batting average allowed.

Fourteen of his 29 strikeouts have come on the changeup, and it is the only one of his primary four pitches this season to have not allowed a home run.

His pitching has been outstanding this year, and it all leads back to his ability to generate swings at an extremely high rate. Even if he allows contact, he is not giving up much hard contact at all.