Tigers' first-round pick gets immediate stamp of approval from Tarik Skubal

With their first pick of the 2026 draft, the Tigers took college pitcher Cameron Flukey at No. 22. It was an unexpected route for Scott Harris' Tigers, who have not selected a pitcher up to this point and have only taken one college player (Jace Jung, Harris' first pick as Detroit's president of baseball operations).

Flukey comes with an asterisk, a ribcage stress fracture that kept him for two months in his senior year, but had been thought to be a top-10 talent before he got injured. Clearly, it wasn't enough to dissuade the Tigers.

Per MLB Pipeline, he "maintains mid-90s velocity on his heater deep into games and tops out at 98 MPH with armside run and carry." The fastball is his highest-rated pitch with a 60-grade.

And it took almostn o time at all for Tarik Skubal to give Flukey his stamp of approval. Jason Beck of MLB.com reported, "Skubal was in the middle of an interview when Tigers' draft pick was announced on TV. He paused the interview to check out the pick, saw Flukey's fastball velocity and vertical carry pop up, and gave his thumbs-up.

'Yeah, we're good,' he said with a smile."

Tigers first-round pick Cameron Flukey gets quick thumbs-up from Tarik Skubal

The Tigers had a severe lack of pitching depth in their pipeline going into this draft, and Flukey's upside means he's almost guaranteed to debut in their top-30 as their highest-ranked pitcher over lefty Andrew Sears, ranked No. 8 this season at Double-A.

It only took Casey Mize two years to get to the majors after his professional debut, and he skipped Triple-A entirely before he made his first MLB start in 2020. Mize was, of course, a one-one and Flukey was not, but he could prove to be a similarly quick riser if he lives up to expectations — and stays healthy.

With all of Mize, Skubal, Jack Flaherty, and Justin Verlander poised to leave the Tigers after this season one way or the other, Detroit's rotation isn't in a terrible spot with Framber Valdez, Troy Melton, Keider Montero, Jackson Jobe, and hopefully a healthy Reese Olson. But Flukey could certainly be major league-ready by Opening Day 2029, after which time Valdez will probably have left.

Of course, we'd all love to see Skubal and Flukey be able to share a rotation. But if not, at least the ace is already optimistic for the club he's leaving behind.

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