Tigers bad season gets even worse with concerning update on Tarik Skubal

Detroit Tigers ace Tarik Skubal could be out for awhile, especially after the latest injury update given by manager AJ Hinch.

Skubal pulled himself from a recent start with elbow soreness, and for good reason.

Given Detroit’s recent luck with pitcher injuries, we can assume he’ll be out for quite some time. Manager AJ Hinch’s update sure doesn’t sound promising, to say the least.

“We’re concerned about Tarik,” Hinch said, per MLB.com. “He’s not going to pitch for the rest of the season, that much we know, which is why we put him on the 60-day [injured list]. The inflammation, the pain that he’s felt continued when he started throwing again.”

Skubal won’t pitch again this season, as Hinch suggests. This is not out of an abundance of caution — it’s because Detroit truly doesn’t know how long their ace will be out for.

Tarik Skubal injury: Tigers ace could be out awhile

Skubal was placed on the 15-day injured list in early August, when he originally pulled himself from the start. After an evaluation from team doctors, Skubal is going for a second opinion — which is rarely a good sign.

“Pitchers pride themselves from staying on the field and not ever coming off the field,” Hinch said. “But when he told me in the last start to come out, that’s obviously concerning because that rarely, if ever, happens. It’s probably a peek into exactly what he was feeling.”

Skubal would be just another in a string of tough Tigers injury updates. Casey Mize, formerly the top pitching prospect in the rotation before he went down to Tommy John surgery, suffered a similar fate.

Hopefully, Skubal won’t be next. But it doesn’t look good for the outset. Without Skubal and Mize, Matt Manning is next man up in terms of a hopeful outlook on the Detroit rotation.