Tigers’ Tarik Skubal unanimously wins AL Cy Young Award, on his birthday, after pitching Triple Crown

Tarik Skubal now has a trophy honoring the best pitcher in the American League to accompany his title as the AL’s pitching Triple Crown winner.

The Detroit Tigers left-hander unanimously won the AL Cy Young Award on Wednesday, receiving 30 out of a possible 30 first-place votes in balloting by the Baseball Writers Association of America. It’s quite a birthday present for Skubal, who won the award on the same day he turned 28 years old.

It was a muddle group in the voting behind Lugo. Seth Lugo of the Kansas City Royals finished second with 14 second-place votes, but Emmanuel Clase (Cleveland Guardians), Cole Ragans (Royals), Corbin Burnes (Baltimore Orioles) and Logan Gilbert (Seattle Mariners) were all picked by at least one writer as the best pitcher behind Skubal.

On the NL side, the Atlanta Braves’ Chris Sale also took home the award after a pitching triple crown, but he wasn’t a unanimous pick.

Skubal broke through as an ace-level starting pitcher in his first full season with Detroit, finishing with an 18-4 record in 31 starts, 2.39 ERA and 228 strikeouts in 192 innings. Leading the AL in wins, ERA and strikeouts made him the aforementioned pitching Triple Crown winner.

He was a crucial part of the Tigers’ improbable run to an AL wild-card playoff bid and postseason run to the AL divisional round. During the second half of the season, Skubal notched an 8-1 record in 12 starts and a 2.37 ERA with 88 strikeouts in 76 innings. In September, as Detroit went 17-8 and overtook the Minnesota Twins for a playoff spot, he was every bit the ace with a 1.52 ERA and 2-0 record in four starts.

Skubal allowed A.J. Hinch to indulge in “pitching chaos”

After the Tigers traded Jack Flaherty to the Los Angeles Dodgers at the MLB trade deadline, Skubal was essentially the team’s only reliable starting pitcher. (Detroit considered trading Skubal as well, but ultimately decided keeping him with two seasons of club control was worth more than any team could offer in return.)

Having Skubal as the anchor of the rotation allowed manager A.J. Hinch to implement what he called “pitching chaos,” in which anyone — starting pitcher or reliever — could begin the game on the mound, followed by as many six pitchers each asked to get several outs.

That continued into the postseason, though the Cy Young Award is for regular-season recognition.

Skubal shut down the favored Houston Astros in Game 1 of their wild-card matchup, throwing six scoreless innings while allowing four hits with six strikeouts. In the divisional round, he kept Detroit in the series, allowing no runs and three hits with eight strikeouts over seven innings in Game 2. When Skubal finally faltered in a decisive Game 5, getting battered for five runs and six hits in six innings, the Tigers’ incredible run ended.

An unusual path to stardom

The left-hander wasn’t a top prospect out of high school, nor did he pitch for a baseball powerhouse in college. Skubal pitched for Seattle University, a private Jesuit college with an enrollment of 7,500 that was the only school to offer him a scholarship.

As a sophomore, he required Tommy John surgery after tearing his UCL and missed the entire 2017 season. As a senior, he posted a 4.16 ERA but struck out 106 batters in 80 innings. That was enough for the Tigers to draft him in the ninth round (No. 255 overall) in the 2018 MLB Draft.

After two minor-league seasons in which he compiled a 2.03 ERA and averaged 13.1 strikeouts per nine innings, the Tigers called him up to the majors. Skubal encountered another setback when he needed flexor tendon surgery in 2022, but he returned with his strikeout stuff intact the following season and soon developed into Detroit’s No. 1 starter.

Skubal has two more seasons of arbitration eligiblity and the Tigers would surely like to sign him to a long-term contract extension. However, his agent is Scott Boras, who typically prefers his clients to go into the free-agent market. And if Skubal has two more years like the one he just had, he can likely anticipate a major payday.