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.
PHOENIX – Imagine being a 10-year-old and seeing the towering figure of Tarik Skubal walk into your school.
To many youngsters, especially in Arizona and Michigan, Skubal is a giant -- literally and figuratively. So when he visited his former school in Kingman, Ariz., just before heading to Spring Training, his goal was to bring himself down to their size and remind them that he was once in their shoes, a kid with big dreams.
“I go talk to the elementary schools and just go get in front of them,” he said. “I think it’s important to give back to kids. A lot of those kids kind of idolize me, so it’s good to get in front of them and just talk to them and let them know I’m a human and that I played basketball in the same gym that they did. I think that stuff’s pretty cool.”
So what’s the best way to do that?
“They love my dogs,” Skubal said. “I think that’s the coolest thing. Whenever they show a picture of my dogs up there, that’s what they lose their mind about. They really don’t care about the baseball player, which is humbling and good.
“And then anytime they ask about velocity, like, ‘How hard can you throw?’ And you say 100, they’re like, ‘Whoa, I can’t even go 100 on the freeway.’ It’s cool, for sure.”
It’s a role Skubal is growing to appreciate, both at home and in Detroit, as his career continues to blossom.
“Being in my position is a privilege, and it’s something that I don’t take lightly,” he said. “Getting in front of kids in my hometown or kids in Detroit, anywhere, and just kind of [helping them] understand that whatever your dream is as a kid, whatever your passion is, just go do it and pursue it and enjoy it. Life’s too short not to. I think that that’s the message I try to portray to kids.”
In Kingman -- a city of about 35,000 in the northern part of the state -- Skubal is the example of the local kid making it big. And Skubal has never forgotten that. In addition to appearances at local schools, he has given back to youth baseball there, the Little League and his alma mater, Kingman Academy High School. He’d rather not have a field named after him, but he wants it to be a continuing effort.
“I have some things planned in the future,” he said. “Obviously it takes time to develop plans and gather up things. But those are on my mind for sure.”
Though Skubal now lives closer to Phoenix, he still considers Kingman home. He continues to show up for Kingman. And when Skubal takes the mound at Chase Field for the second time in his MLB career to start Wednesday afternoon’s series finale against the Diamondbacks, a large part of Kingman is expected to show up for Skubal, making the drive of three-plus hours to see its hometown hero.
“There’s going to be quite a few,” he said. “I think a lot of people from Kingman will drive up that I don’t know are even coming that will show up. So it’ll be a ton of fun. Obviously, I don’t get to come out west and play baseball in front of family and friends a ton, so anytime I get to come home, it’s special.”
It’s likely to be enough fans that they’ll need their own section, too many for the traditional friends-and-family area, even though many of them are family. And they’ll likely be loud.
“There’s going to be a good section down the right-field line,” he said.
It’s an experience Skubal wants to appreciate, even as he works on building off his hot start.
“I think Arizona is home to me, whether it be Kingman or the Valley,” he said. “Both of them feel like home to me. This is where I spend my offseasons. When my career ends, this is where I’ll probably end up. Nothing against Detroit, but the winters, they are not what I’m trying to do.”