The Tigers have been without left-hander Tarik Skubal since he underwent surgery to repair a flexor tear in his forearm last August. Detroit hasn’t provided a specific recovery timeline for the 26-year-old hurler, though he’s out until at least late May after starting the year on the 60-day injured list. Skubal is soon to hit a notable marker in his rehab process, as he’s in line to throw his first post-surgery bullpen session this week (link via Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free-Press).
Skubal will certainly need multiple ’pen sessions and likely some live batting practice work before he’s ready to step into game action. Petzold notes the club is still without a firm timetable on when he might embark on a minor league rehab stint. That he’s throwing is obviously a plus and provides some hope he could return when or not long after he’s first eligible. Skubal developed into perhaps Detroit’s best pitcher before the injury, working to a 3.52 ERA with a 24.5% strikeout percentage through 21 starts last year.
Some updates on other injured pitchers around the league:
- Cubs starter Kyle Hendricks will begin a rehab assignment with Triple-A Iowa on Thursday, tweets Bruce Levine of 670 The Score. The right-hander is still working back from a capsular tear in his throwing shoulder suffered last August. He’s been throwing for the better part of six weeks but the club has understandably taken a cautious approach to building him up. Hendricks will require multiple rehab starts, with Levine suggesting the hope is he can return to the Wrigley Field mound in the middle of May. The 33-year-old worked to a career-worst 4.80 ERA over 84 1/3 innings last season. He’s headed into the final guaranteed year of his contract, with the Cubs deciding on a net $14.5MM decision for 2024 ($16MM option, $1.5MM buyout) at year’s end.
- The Phillies are also sending one of their starters on a rehab stint this week. Left-hander Ranger Suárez will pitch two innings with Double-A Reading on Thursday, relays Matt Gelb of the Athletic. According to Gelb, he’s expected to make three or four minor league appearances before making his MLB season debut in the middle of May. The southpaw was slowed by a bout of forearm inflammation in Spring Training, part of a tough exhibition season from a health perspective for Philadelphia. He threw a personal-high 155 1/3 innings with a 3.65 ERA and an excellent 55.4% ground-ball percentage in 29 starts last year.
- Royals left-hander Daniel Lynch threw a bullpen session this afternoon, tweets Anne Rogers of MLB.com. He’s expected to log three innings in an extended Spring Training game on Thursday before beginning a rehab stint. That could position Lynch for his season debut in mid-May after a strain in his throwing shoulder shut him down at the end of Spring Training. One of the expected key starters for K.C. coming out of their rebuild, Lynch has had up-and-down results in his first two big league campaigns. He allowed a 5.13 ERA across 131 2/3 innings last season. With Kris Bubic lost for the season and Brady Singer struggling in the early going, a step forward from the 26-year-old Lynch takes on all the more importance for the Royals in the long term.
Skubal is Charles Dickens Great Expectations protagonist. He will surprise and become a gentleman, but ace? No way! Good luck!
Too early to tell if Skubal can become an ace, but I wouldn’t be so quick to dismiss the possibility.
I don’t see him becoming an ace. I think he could b a solid 3 in a decent rotation with a few yrs of a solid 2 performance. I just don’t see him preventing enough base runners to b dominate enough to b an ace.
Always hard to tell. Scherzer’s first 5 years were OK but not HoF worthy. 3.88 ERA, 3.77 FIP, 1.297 WHIP. up until he was 27, then from 2013-2022 he went on a tear….2.78 ERA, 2.73 FIP, 0.979 Whip…..you never know.
I definitely think he’s got Ace potential. He’s already solid. Be sure not to look at his win/loss record. He has had very little run support.
It’s not his W/L record that concerns me. It’s the # of base runners he allows on and the timing of them. Hopefully it’s something he can overcome.
Timing, I’m not sure of. But, the average MLB WHIP is 1.3 and he’s always been under that. His last season was 1.15. So, he’s better than average when it comes to base runners.
Yes he has been better than average which is why I said solid 3 to potentially a 2. His 1.15 WHIP last season and career 1.21 has been good, just has not been elite(ace) level.
I’m very much looking forward to having Skubal back on the Tigers active roster.
Skubal rocks! Can’t wait for him to be back.
I’m still quite leery of what or even if any help Hendricks can provide. I think I’d take the under of 5 starts made at the Major League level. Wesneski is shaky and Asad is back in AAA trying to get stretched back out as it was a mistake to bring him North as a reliever which he wasn’t really accustomed to. The Iowa rotation should still be Asad, Killian, Wicks, Brown and Elias. Brown is dominating AA and Wicks stats don’t really show how well he’s pitched as he’s given up a lot of unearned runs. I’m not sure if the Cubs will have to let Elias go soon as most of these guys have opt outs if they’re not in the Majors by May 1. He’s also looked pretty good. Sampson is injured and not the future so I’m not even sure he’s worth keeping around. Somebody might want him when he gets healthy with all the Starters around the league dropping like flies. Hendricks can change his motion all he wants but that’s not going to heal a tear and it might even limit the movement he gets on the ball which is what makes him tough to hit. I’ll be watching Thursday.
Last night Brady Singer looked more like the pitcher that we saw last year. Let’s see if he can build upon that & get rolling. Re Lynch this should be his chance at being the pitcher that the Royals thought they got back in ’18. Bubic’s injury short circuited what I thought was going to be his breakout season.
He will win 15 games
Does it really Matter, The tigers hitting is horrible. He can pitch and get beat 1-0 2-1. They’re no hitting. Scott Harris May want to look for some bats. I think at this point we need to look at few young guys who can hit, Maybe a trade or two. Some other teams with some guys who can hit. I’m not saying we’re going to be in the race.
can I have a update from a tigers fan on how the Mize, Manning, Skubal trio is doing. I remember hearing how they were gonna dominate and be all-stars
Still early. Three aces? No… But we still expect, maybe, three jacks. That’s good! So we are not folding! We got rid of bad front office, always stacking deck against themselves and bending the cards! Go Tigers!
All three are injured unfortunately. Varying degrees of success.
He knows they’re injured he was asking where they were in their rehabs. Unfortunately it’s next to impossible to find out injury news on guys in the Minors as I’ve been trying to find out what’s going on with some Cubs like Devers and Canario specifically. It’s next to impossible.