Tarik Skubal


Tarik Daniel Skubal is an American professional baseball pitcher in the Detroit Tigers organization.

Career

Skubal attended Kingman Academy of Learning in Kingman, Arizona and played college baseball at Seattle University. He missed most of the 2016 season and all of 2017 after undergoing Tommy John Surgery. Despite the injury, he was drafted by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the 29th round of the 2017 Major League Baseball draft, but did not sign and returned to Seattle. He was then drafted by the Detroit Tigers in the ninth round of the 2018 MLB draft and signed.
Skubal spent his first professional season with the Gulf Coast Tigers, Connecticut Tigers and West Michigan Whitecaps, pitching to a combined 3–0 record and 0.40 ERA in 22.1 innings pitched. He started 2019 with the Lakeland Flying Tigers. He would impress throughout the season and earn a call-up to the Erie SeaWolves on July 5th. Over his first three starts with Erie, he held a 0.56 ERA with 34 strikeouts and giving up just five hits in sixteen innings. His performances over the season would earn him a jump on the MLB.com 2019 Prospect Watch from a preseason #20 ranking in the Tigers' organization, to a #4 spot in the midseason update on July 27th. He would finish the season at the Double-A level with a 2–3 record, 2.13 ERA, 1.02 WHIP, and with opponents hitting just.168 off him. Overall in 2019, Skubal struck out 179 batters in only innings.
He was invited to Spring Training by the Tigers in 2020.