Tigers ace Tarik Skubal made a rehab start today for High-A West Michigan. The two-time Cy Young winner put on a masterclass for his minor league teammates, tossing five scoreless innings on 54 pitches (44 strikes). He struck out six and gave up just a pair of singles. As ESPN’s Jeff Passan pointed out, it’s only been a month since Skubal went for NanoScope arthroscopic surgery to remove loose bodies from his left elbow. Whether his quick recovery says more about the surgical technology or Skubal himself, it’s remarkable either way.
Following his start this afternoon, Skubal went to the bullpen to throw some more pitches (per The Athletic’s Cody Stavenhagen). In other words, he wasn’t removed after 54 bullets because that’s all he could throw. That’s a good indication that Skubal’s next start could be for the Tigers. Before his rehab outing, manager A.J. Hinch suggested he might only need the one tune-up start as long as all went well. It certainly seems as if all did, in fact, go well.
Skubal isn’t the only pitcher working his way back to Detroit. Earlier today, Hinch also offered updates on Justin Verlander, Casey Mize, and Kenley Jansen (per reporter Chris McCosky). Verlander is set to make a second rehab start for Triple-A Toledo on Wednesday. He made his first rehab start last week, tossing five scoreless innings with three strikeouts. The Tigers legend has been on the shelf since his first start of the season with inflammation in his left hip. Barring a setback, a third rehab start seems unlikely.
Mize and Jansen are both lined up to pitch on Tuesday. Mize has not been out for long; right adductor inflammation sent him to the injured list at the end of May. His outing this week for Single-A Lakeland should be the only rehab start he needs before he can also rejoin the Tigers’ rotation. Jansen hit the IL around the same time as Mize with pelvic inflammation. Given that timeline, it’s plausible that he, too, will be ready to come back after one rehab appearance.
With Skubal, Verlander, and Mize all nearing their returns, the Tigers will have to figure out how to fit three arms into their starting rotation. They currently have four healthy starters: Framber Valdez, Jack Flaherty, Keider Montero, and Troy Melton. Melton is the most likely candidate to be optioned or moved to the bullpen, but even then, Detroit would have six starters for five spots. Hinch acknowledged this issue without revealing his cards, although he did suggest that a six-man rotation is a possibility: “We’ll work our way through how to slide guys in…but it’s not as simple as just ‘disrupt everything’ and insert three-fifths of a rotation or three-sixths of a rotation if we go to the sixth man” (per Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press).
