DETROIT (WXYZ) — After a dominant 2024 season, Tigers starting pitcher Tarik Skubal has won the AL Cy Young award, Major League Baseball announced on Sunday evening. Skubal received all 30 first-place votes.
The left-handed pitcher led all American League pitchers in earned run average (2.39), wins (18) and strikeouts (228), considered the Triple Crown of pitching. Skubal started 31 games for the Tigers this past season, posting an 18-4 record while throwing 192.0 innings and posting a WHIP (walks and hits per innings pitched). In his age-28 season, Skubal also earned his first All-Star appearance earlier this summer, being one of two Tigers invited to the Midsummer classic (Riley Greene).
Skubal led all Tigers in Fangraphs Wins Above Replacement (6.4), a key piece on a Detroit team that made an improbable run. On August 11, the Tigers were eight games under .500 (55-63) and had a 0.2 percent chance of making the playoffs on Fangraphs. From there, the Gritty Tigers got hot, winning 31 of their final 44 games to earn a Wild Card spot in the Playoffs.
Once in the postseason, Skubal and the 6-seed Tigers proceeded to sweep the 3-seed Houston Astros in the Wild Card round before falling to the Cleveland Guardians in the American League Divisional Series in five games. In his first postseason, Skubal pitched in three games, posting a 1-1 record while recording a 2.37 ERA, allowing 13 hits and five runs and striking out 20 batters.
Skubal is the third Tigers player to win the award this century, joining Justin Verlander (2011) and Max Scherzer (2013). He's the fifth player to win the award in franchise history, along with Willie Hernández (1984) and Denny McLain (1968 & 1969)
Hailing from Seattle University, Skubal was drafted by the Tigers in the ninth round of the 2018 MLB June Amateur Draft. Skubal made his Major League debut in the COVID-19-shortened 2020 season. In five seasons, Skubal has posted a 41-31 record, a 3.37 ERA, and 648 strikeouts in 571.1 innings pitched.
Skubal is set to make $11,200,000 in 2025, and barring a new contract with the Tigers, he's set to become a free agent in 2027 when he turns 30.
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