This story was excerpted from Jason Beck’s Tigers Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
Justin Verlander gets the comparisons that have cropped up between him and Tarik Skubal. They started last year with Skubal’s Triple Crown, the first by a Tiger since Verlander’s AL MVP season in 2011. When fans at Comerica Park started chanting Skubal’s name as he took the mound for the ninth inning last Sunday, it was hard not to think of the JV chants from years ago.
When Skubal’s 94th and final pitch Sunday registered at 102.6 miles per hour, it was the fastest pitch thrown by an MLB starter in the ninth inning or later since Verlander’s 101.3 mph fastball for the Tigers against the White Sox on July 24, 2009. They’re the two hardest fastballs thrown by a Major League starter in the ninth or later since pitch tracking began in 2008.
So when the 42-year-old Verlander came through Detroit this week with the Giants, he understood the discussion. But when asked if he saw any of himself in Skubal, he hesitated to throw that weight on a pitcher he has met but admittedly doesn’t know well.
"It would be fun to say yeah,” Verlander told colleague Maria Guardado. “I don’t know, man. He’s his own thing. I don’t want people to compare him to me.
“Obviously, natural comparisons will happen just with time and stats. He throws 100, and so did I. It’s fun to throw that out there. But I mean, different pitcher, different era."
Verlander was famous for his late-game velocity for much of his Tiger tenure. It was a regular event during his first few seasons in Detroit. Of the 25 fastballs from starters at 100.0 mph or harder in the ninth inning or later in the pitch tracking era, Verlander owns 11 of them. How he went about it was a little different, beyond Verlander being right-handed and Skubal being a lefty.
Like Skubal, Verlander could pump fastballs early and late in his first few seasons, riding big-game adrenaline. Verlander’s aforementioned 101.3 mph heater came in a 127-pitch, complete-game six-hitter with only an unearned run allowed. He entered the eighth inning with 100 pitches and kept going.
As Verlander aged, he changed his approach to save his hardest pitches for late. He’d throw fastballs in the low to mid 90s early and pace himself so that he had enough left in the tank to overpower hitters late.
Skubal, so far, has looked to throw hard throughout a game. The most important pitch, he has argued, can come early. But he also hasn’t had as many chances to pitch that deep into games; his only other outing beyond seven innings was a 2-1 win over the Red Sox last Aug. 31, when he went eight and threw 99 mph on his 98th and final pitch.
“I’m pretty much emptying the tank from pitch one,” Skubal said after that game. “I don’t really want to save a pitch. What good does it do to save a bullet if you’re already down 4-0? That’s just how I pitch."
Verlander said hello to Skubal in March at Oracle Park when the Tigers came to town for two exhibition games. It was a starstruck moment for Skubal, who was a 14-year-old during Verlander’s incredible summer of 2011.
It was a moment of respect for Verlander, who’s more interested in the blossoming of a young ace than comparisons to history.
"That last game [from Skubal] was pretty special,” he said. “Just listening from afar, hearing him finding his routine and getting comfortable and finding what works for him, I think that’s all really cool. I think that’s part of your process of becoming an elite big leaguer, just kind of identifying who you are.
“From afar, it’s been a lot of fun to watch his growth. I said hi to him when they were in San Francisco and congrats on the success, but that’s it."
And yes, Verlander was following Skubal’s gem on Sunday. And he had the same reaction that a lot of fans did.
"Yeah,” he said. “Sick.”
Senior Reporter Jason Beck has covered the Tigers for MLB.com since 2002.