LAKELAND, Fla. -- Tarik Skubal is a back-to-back American League Cy Young Award winner, a Team USA ace and a record winner in arbitration. He got here by never being satisfied, which might explain his next foray in pursuit of more hardware.
Skubal is an aspiring barista.
Tucked within Skubal’s locker at Joker Marchant Stadium is the latest weapon in the Tigers’ quest for greatness. It’s an espresso machine Skubal bought with longtime teammate, good friend and clubhouse neighbor Casey Mize. It’s the perfect pick-me-up for early mornings in Lakeland for a dad with two young kids, a daily commute and a pretty intense job with some long days at the office.
“Caffeine, yeah,” Skubal said Sunday morning. “It's a performance enhancer, it really is. Swear to God.”
Call it the Charlie Morton effect. The veteran right-hander made just nine starts with the Tigers last summer following his Trade Deadline deal from Baltimore, but he still made a lasting legacy: He bought an espresso machine for the home clubhouse at Comerica Park shortly after his arrival. Really, it was more like an espresso system.
“He’ll give you a 30-minute dissertation on espresso making,” manager A.J. Hinch joked at the time.
To call Morton an aficionado might be underselling it.
“I think this generation of player is into coffee,” Morton said at the time, “but more discerning about coffee, about food and those kinds of things.”
Morton’s new teammates were interested. For Skubal, it was part of his daily routine, including before starts.
“You have to make sure you're close to a bathroom,” he said. “I think there's a fine line [timing-wise]. I do it in-season to where an hour and a half, two hours before the game is my last coffee, Americano, and then I'm usually riding the high for as long as I can.”
Morton’s machine did not make the trip south to Spring Training, and the coffee machine in the food room wasn’t cutting it. Lakeland has some quality coffee spots, but none particularly close to the park. And as early as players often arrive, it’s difficult to get that to carry through a full workout.
Thus came this new machine – not nearly as fancy, but it serves its purpose.
“As we get better with this, we'll probably venture into where Charlie's at,” Skubal said. “Because that machine that he got us last year, dude, that's like rocket science trying to figure out how to do it right. Like, you do it, and sometimes nothing comes out and you're like, 'I don't know what I did wrong.'”
Said Hinch: “Yeah, it’s really hard. You need a YouTube video to figure out Charlie’s.”
The machine Skubal and Mize have is simpler. Finding the right mix is complex.
“Usually you need a scale and some other things. We’re just eyeballing it,” Skubal said. “There's a lot of trial and error right now, but we're locking it in. Yesterday we probably brewed more [bad] ones than good ones, but we're getting there. We're getting there.”
What’s Skubal’s go-to drink?
“Iced Americano. Every day,” he said. “Yeah, it's my thing. I get too jittery with hot coffee. I don't know why. Even in Detroit when it's cold, I have iced Americano. I love it.”
How many can he have? Three?
“Well, that would be six shots of espresso. That's a lot,” he said. “I think four is where I'm kind of done.”