HOUSTON — Two-time defending American League Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal will leave Team USA after its game against Mexico and return to Tigers camp in Lakeland, Fla., Team USA manager Mark DeRosa said Monday afternoon. DeRosa said Skubal will not pitch again in the WBC, finalizing what the ace lefty described this weekend as “one of the tougher decisions I’ve made in my career.”
Skubal is scheduled to hit free agency after the season and will command one of the largest starting pitching contracts in baseball history. His importance to the Detroit Tigers, a team with legitimate American League pennant expectations, can’t be overstated, either. The risk he assumed by even accepting the invitation to pitch in a preseason tournament is immense.
In an effort to mitigate it, Skubal announced last month he would make just one WBC start before returning to the Tigers’ spring training facility and continuing his buildup for the regular season. Skubal made that start on Saturday, striking out five across three innings of one-run ball during Team USA’s 9-1 victory against Great Britain.
Patriotism and the pageantry of Saturday’s start altered Skubal’s plans. After the start, he acknowledged a change in perspective after pitching with U-S-A across his chest and enjoying the camaraderie built within the team’s clubhouse.
After his start, Skubal said he phoned Tigers officials and his agent, Scott Boras, in hopes of finding a way to pitch again for Team USA. On Sunday, Detroit manager A.J. Hinch told reporters in Florida that he spoke with Skubal on Saturday night and heard someone “incredibly emotional about the experience” who is “in a tough spot to accomplish everything.”
“I didn’t expect these types of emotions to run through my brain or my thoughts to differ. I was pretty committed to making a start and getting back to camp,” Skubal said on Saturday. “Things have changed, obviously, that’s why I’m going to have some conversations to try and figure out a plan for me.”
That Skubal even agreed to appear once for Team USA earned Skubal enormous respect from around the clubhouse.
“Everybody knows he is going to get absolutely broken off next year, and he’s going to make more money than anybody as a starting pitcher,” Team USA first baseman Bryce Harper said on Friday.
“For him to be able to do that and do it for us is something I respect out of him.”