Washington (United States) (AFP) – Two-time reigning American League Cy Young Award winner as top pitcher Tarik Skubal will undergo arthroscopic elbow surgery to remove loose bodies, Major League Baseball’s Detroit Tigers announced on Monday. The move came after an elbow injury flared up on Sunday, with neither the Tigers nor the 29-year-old left-hander putting a timetable on his return from an injury that typically requires a two- or three-month recovery.
Skubal was pulled from a scheduled Monday start against Boston five days after an injury scare last Wednesday against Atlanta and sent to the injured list. Skubal shook his left arm and grabbed his forearm in Atlanta. He prepared for his next start but suffered a setback in work on Sunday. “I thought I was progressing in a very positive manner,” Skubal said. “Yesterday’s catch play just didn’t really go great, which led to getting scans and getting the information.”
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Skubal won a record $32 million arbitration decision to pitch this season and will be a free agent after the campaign. “This is something I’ve kind of been dealing with,” Skubal said. “But then again, it was progressing in a positive manner, so I wasn’t very concerned about it.” Skubal has no ligament damage and is likely to pitch again this season. “From my understanding, you just go take (the loose bodies) out,” Skubal said. “I’m going to come back and be the same guy. I’m not really too worried about that.”
Skubal is 3-2 this season with a 2.70 earned-run average and 45 strikeouts in 43.3 innings for the Tigers, who share the AL Central division lead with Cleveland at 18-17. Skubal had Tommy John ligament replacement surgery and missed the 2017 college season, then had left forearm tendon surgery in August 2022 and missed 11 months. Since then, Skubal has gone 41-15 with a 2.41 ERA in 511 innings over 84 starts. He led the AL in wins, strikeouts, and ERA in 2024 for the pitching Triple Crown.
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