Detroit Tigers: 4 players to be thankful for

SP Tarik Skubal

Skubal may be injured and miss a significant portion of the 2023 season, but he looked like an ace at times during the 2022 season. Through his first 10 starts, Skubal had a 2.15 ERA, 1.99 FIP, and 61 strikeouts in 58.2 innings pitched. He looked like a star in the making.

Then he started to struggle mightily. From June 7 until the All-Star break, he had an ERA of 7 and a FIP of 4.97. He had started allowing more hard contact and home runs again as well. He looked like the 2021 version of Tarik Skubal.

However, his last four starts before getting injured was much more like it. He had a 1.57 ERA in those starts. Batters hit just .195 in that stretch and he allowed 0 homers. He was starting to look like himself again. It's a shame he got hurt.

Skubal had a 2.9 fWAR this season, which was by far the highest on the Tigers. He's still just 26 years old and has four years of team control left, so when he's healthy, he figures to be a huge part of the Detroit Tigers' future.

If Skubal can come back healthy and get back to form, that's a huge piece of the Tigers' rotation going forward, which is easily something to be thankful for.