Tigers Ace Tarik Skubal Explains Why He’s Pitching One World Baseball Classic Game
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Detroit Tigers ace Tarik Skubal started his last spring training game for the Detroit Tigers on Sunday. After that he heads for the World Baseball Classic.
The left-hander’s inclusion on the team has been a year in the making. Skubal told “Flippin’ Bats” host Ben Verlander that Team USA manager Mark DeRosa contacted him early last season about playing. Skubal said he needed until after the season to decide. Once he did, he was announced among the second wave of players to commit to play.
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He made waves recently when he revealed that he was only going to pitch in one WBC game and then return to Tigers camp. During the podcast, Skubal discussed why he made the decision.
Tarik Skubal on WBC Play
DeRosa wasn’t the only Team USA coach to call and sell Skubal on playing. Team USA pitching coach Andy Pettitte and Skubal Had a 30-minute conversation in the ramp up to Skubal making his commitment. Throughout the process, he kept Team USA involved, in addition to Tigers management and his agent, Scott Boras. He felt it was important to make sure that everyone was on the same page.
He told Verlander that the decision one game was mutual and that it was about the timing of the tournament. He compared it to the timing of the U.S. Olympic hockey teams and their participation in those games, which came during a break in the middle of their professional seasons.
“It's the timing for me,” he said. “If this tournament was in the middle of our season, like it was for hockey, I'd have no problem throwing both games, throwing as much as I can for Team USA. I'd have no problem. It’s just that, if you look at my velocity as the year goes on, I'm simply not built up to throw 4 to 5 innings at 99 to 101 [mph], you know? I'm not there and I think anytime workload gets really spiked that's when injuries start to happen.”
Skubal will start the tournament with an incredible pitching staff that includes David Bednar, Matthew Boyd, Garrett Cleavinger, Clay Holmes, Griffin Jax, Brad Keller, Clayton Kershaw, Nolan McLean, Mason Miller, Joe Ryan, Paul Skenes, Tarik Skubal, Gabe Speier, Michael Wacha and Garrett Whitlock. Ryan, who is injured, was just replaced by Ryan Yarbrough of the New York Yankees.
The left-hander has been brilliant the past two seasons. In 2024 he went 18-4 with a 2.39 ERA and 228 strikeouts as he won the American League pitching triple crown. That helped him win his first Cy Young and finish seventh in AL MVP voting.
Last year his won-loss record wasn’t quite as good, as he went 13-6. But he bettered his 2024 season other respects, including a 2.21 ERA and 241 strikeouts. He won his second Cy Young and finished fifth in AL MVP voting.
Matthew Postins is an award-winning sports journalist who covers Major League Baseball for OnSI. He also covers the Big 12 Conference for Heartland College Sports.
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