Tarik Skubal Touches 103 MPH In Dominating Shutout
Image credit: Tarik Skubal (Photo by Rob Tringali/MLB Photos via Getty Images)
Tarik Skubal threw 103 mph on Sunday. And in doing so, he showed how well he can pace himself. Yes, that is a seemingly an incongruity.
There’s been plenty of discussion in recent years about how modern-day pitchers go max-effort too often.
The argument is that starters don’t pace themselves like they used to and instead just try to throw hard from the first to last pitch of their all-too-brief starts.
If that’s a concern, watch and enjoy the Tigers lefthander’s complete-game two-hit, 13-strikeout, no-walk shutout on Sunday. It was a master class in pitching, as he dominated the Guardians for nine innings.
And he did it by generally pitching at less than 100%.
It may seem odd to say that on a day that a starter sat at 97-98 mph with his four-seamer and sinker, but it was clearly the case.
The 2024 AL Cy Young winner was masterful with his changeup, getting 14 swings and misses in 29 pitches. His slider was used sparingly but was also effective, as he threw six of his eight sliders for strikes and got two whiffs with it.
But he largely relied on his fastball, because Skubal could dot the zone with both his four-seamer and sinker. He threw 21 of 29 four-seamers for strikes (72%) and 21 of 26 sinkers for strikes (81%).
When one of the best pitchers in baseball can pair two devastating fastballs with a dominating changeup—and he’s throwing all of them in the zone pitch after pitch—there’s really nothing a lineup can do.
But here’s the other thing about Skubal’s start: He was able to cruise and then reach back for his top-tier velocity when he needed it. Skubal carried a perfect game into the sixth inning with a 95-99 mph fastball.
He lost the perfect game in the sixth when Will Wilson doubled on a sinker at the bottom of the zone. He then hit Nolan Jones with a sinker later in the inning. Another 98 mph Skubal sinker ended that threat when Angel Martinez grounded into a double play.
The only other real threat Skubal faced came in the seventh when Jose Ramirez singled with one out. That’s when Skubal finally broke out his top-tier velocity. Against Kyle Manzardo with two outs, he went down and away with 100.2 mph on an 0-2 count. And then he did it again, this time inside the zone for a called strike three on 101.7 mph.
With an 0-2 count on his 94th pitch, Skubal finished off his first career shutout with a 102.6 mph fastball down and in to strike out Gabriel Arias.
This was the ace rising to the occasion to send the home crowd home with an all-time memory.
Rounding up, it was a 103 mph pitch. That was the hardest pitch of Skubal’s career. It was also tied for the second-hardest pitch thrown by a major league starter in a normal start in the regular season during the pitch tracking era (2008-present), narrowly trailing a 102.7 mph pitch from the late Yordano Ventura.
That’s only for the regular season, however, as Justin Verlander reached back for 103.1 mph in the 2011 ALCS). Jordan Hicks also threw harder than that in 2022, but in an opener role.
Skubal’s, however, was the hardest pitch thrown 75+ pitches into an MLB start in the pitch tracking era, topping the 102.4 mph thrown by Verlander and Nate Eovaldi.
If you worry that today’s pitchers don’t know how to pitch, rewatch and enjoy Skubal’s start. What you’ll see is an ace at the peak of his powers.
It also is a reminder that the best pitchers of this era also know how to pace themselves and reach back for their best stuff only when necessary. It’s just that, nowadays, for some of the game’s best starters, their 90% effort gives them 97-98 mph, and reaching back means they have 101-102 mph in their back pocket when they need it.
