It's unanimous: Skubal named Tiger of the Year

DETROIT -- Tarik Skubal was a unanimous choice for the 2024 Tiger of the Year Award, receiving all 22 first-place votes from members of the Detroit chapter of the Baseball Writers' Association of America.

Skubal -- who won the American League’s pitching Triple Crown by leading AL pitchers in wins (18), ERA (2.39) and strikeouts (228) -- is the first unanimous choice for Tiger of the Year since Miguel Cabrera won the AL batting Triple Crown in 2012 on his way to AL MVP honors. Skubal is the first Tigers pitcher to win the honor since Matthew Boyd in 2019.

Skubal is expected to add the AL Cy Young Award to his trophy haul next week.

Skubal’s impact on the Tigers’ first winning season since 2016 and first postseason berth since '14 cannot be overstated. While manager A.J. Hinch turned “pitching chaos” into a rallying cry, riding a series of bullpen games, openers and bulk relievers into a late-season charge, Skubal was the constant at the top of the rotation. For some stretches, he basically was the rotation, sometimes as its only traditional starter, and other times paired with rookie Keider Montero.

While a hitter can impact a team just about every game, a starting pitcher has a mere fraction of a season to do that. The Tigers went 21-10 in Skubal’s starts and 65-66 over the rest of the season.

“He's been everything to us,” Hinch said during the AL Division Series. “And so when you hand him the ball, whether it's in [the playoffs], the end of the year, the middle of the season, I know I'm going to get a guy who's prepared. I know I'm going to get somebody's best effort. I know I'm going to get an outburst of emotion at some point finishing an inning with a big out.”

Skubal was up to the task. He had the most wins by a Tiger since Max Scherzer in 2014. His ERA was the lowest by a qualified Detroit starter since Mark Fidrych’s incredible rookie season of 1976. His 5.9 fWAR trails only Justin Verlander’s 2009 and '10 seasons for highest by a Tiger in his age-27 season or younger since 1971. His 6.3 bWAR not only led MLB pitchers, it ranked seventh among all AL players and was nearly a full run more than any other Tiger. Riley Greene was next highest at 5.4 bWAR.

"When you see special seasons like this, the hardest thing to do for all of us is to put in proper context while you're watching it," Hinch said at the end of the regular season. "Think about Miguel Cabrera's Triple Crown [season], like how incredible that was. And now put it in perspective of his entire career, and we have a whole new perspective. We're going to look at Tarik's year much differently five years from now, 10 years from now, when that list is still short.”

Others who had an up-close view of it were in awe. With a fastball that reached triple-digits nine times, capped by a 101.7 mph heater against the Brewers on June 9, plus a changeup that consistently flummoxed right-handed hitters and a slider that had a 34 percent whiff rate according to Statcast, Skubal’s arsenal was devastating.

"Let me tell you: It was fun," said catcher Jake Rogers, who caught all 31 of Skubal’s starts. "Guys would always ask how it was catching him, and I don't know if I could really answer other than he was kind of on cruise control all year. You get to a certain speed, and you hit the button and he's going all for it.”