{"id":673721,"date":"2026-05-16T15:58:07","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T15:58:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/673721\/"},"modified":"2026-05-16T15:58:07","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T15:58:07","slug":"tarik-skubal-begins-throwing-progression","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/673721\/","title":{"rendered":"Tarik Skubal Begins Throwing Progression"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tarik Skubal<\/a> underwent arthroscopic surgery on May 6 to remove loose bodies from his left elbow, but the two-time defending AL Cy Young Award winner has already started playing catch, Tigers manager A.J. Hinch told MLB.com\u2019s Jason Beck<\/a> and other reporters.\u00a0 This most basic stage of Skubal\u2019s throwing progression will see the left-hander \u201ccontinue to play catch daily until we ramp him up to the bullpen [sessions],\u201d Hinch said, though all parties will remain in consultation with Dr. Neal ElAttrache, who performed the surgery.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was texting back and forth with [Skubal] last night, and he feels super excited about just the general feeling [of throwing],\u201d Hinch said.\u00a0 \u201cIt doesn\u2019t feel weird.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t feel awkward.\u00a0 It\u2019s not guarded.\u00a0 I\u2019ve seen video of it.\u00a0 We\u2019re in touch with him daily about the program, and that sort of freedom, mentally and physically, I think is a great sign.\u00a0 We\u2019ve been in touch with the doctor and making sure that we\u2019re going by the protocol, because it\u2019s a unique set of circumstances of him throwing so soon in which the volume was not impacted.\u201d<\/p>\n

The recovery process is still in its early stages, so Hinch said a clearer timetable for Skubal wouldn\u2019t be known until the southpaw starts to ramp up the intensity of his throwing sessions and gets onto a mound.\u00a0 Still, it is certainly promising to see Skubal already feeling well enough to throw so soon after the procedure.<\/p>\n

In general, arthroscopic surgeries usually lead to pitchers missing between 2-3 months of action, though much depends on what types of loose bodies (bone chips, cartilage, etc.) need to be removed, as well as other x-factors like the overall state of the individual pitcher\u2019s elbow.\u00a0 Skubal is no stranger to major surgeries, as he underwent a Tommy John procedure in college and a flexor tendon surgery in August 2022 that kept him out of action until July 2023.<\/p>\n

In this case, however, Skubal underwent a Nanoscope procedure.\u00a0 As Beck puts it, this method \u201cis less invasive and uses a smaller incision than a typical arthroscopic surgery, was hoped to result in a quicker resumption of activity.\u201d\u00a0 It would like the Nanoscope has indeed allowed Skubal to make some early progress, though it remains to be seen if the left-hander will be able to return to Detroit\u2019s active roster in any shorter order.<\/p>\n

The Tigers surely won\u2019t want to rush Skubal in any way, as any sort of setback would elongate his recovery timeline and potentially even put his entire season in jeopardy.\u00a0 Bigger-picture considerations are also naturally in play here, given how Skubal is a free agent this winter.\u00a0 It is already possible that this injury absence could impact Skubal\u2019s attempts to land the largest pitching contract in history, but the southpaw obviously wants to return as soon as safely possible in order to both help the Tigers win in 2026 and to boost his own case for a record-setting payday.<\/p>\n

Despite a 20-25 record and a cavalcade of injuries, Detroit is far from out of it given the parity in the American League.\u00a0 If the Tigers can at least tread water until Skubal and other injured players can return, it is still very possible Detroit can secure a wild card berth or even the AL Central crown.\u00a0 However, if the Tigers are firmly out of the playoff race by July, the equation on Skubal\u2019s readiness might change to whether or not the ace is able to display his health for any possible suitors heading into the trade deadline.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tarik Skubal underwent arthroscopic surgery on May 6 to remove loose bodies from his left elbow, but the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":673722,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[49,48,462,82,489],"class_list":["post-673721","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-mlb","tag-sports","tag-tarik-skubal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/673721","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=673721"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/673721\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/673722"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=673721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=673721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=673721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}