During Detroit Tigers’ ace, Tarik Skubal’s last outing, there was momentary concern as the pitcher shook out of his left arm on several occasions. His velocity and command didn’t appear to be impacted and Skubal didn’t think there was anything really wrong. Unfortunately, as A.J. Hinch told reporters minutes ago, loose bodies were found in his left elbow after the arm locked up on him during last night’s game. He’ll presumably need athroscopic surgery to clean out the elbow joint, putting him on the injured list.
Right-hander Ty Madden has been recalled from Triple-A Toledo to follow opener Tyler Holton for Monday night’s contest against the Boston Red Sox. Skubal appears headed to the 15-day injured list for now.
This type of issue is fairly common, and it’s just as well that it was caught right now. Over time bone chips in the elbow joint floating loose can cause wear to the UCL, and that would be the worst case scenario. Skubal had Tommy John surgery as a freshman in college, and then flexor tendon surgery in 2022. If this is a clean one, they should be able to clean out the elbow and have him rehabbing within 3-4 weeks, though it will take time to build him back up.
Obviously this is pretty bad news, but if arthroscopic surgery is all that’s required, the Tigers and Skubal also dodged a bullet here. However, for the next few weeks, until Casey Mize, Troy Melton, and possibly Justin Verlander, are ready to return to action, the Tigers are going to have to be creative and dig into their bag of pitching chaos tricks to avoid stalling out in the AL Central.