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.
DETROIT -- Tarik Skubal still has the scar from his Tommy John surgery a decade ago running along his left elbow. That will never go away, a reflection of how big of a procedure it is.
Look for the signs from his NanoScope surgery just a couple weeks ago, however, and it’s a tougher find. The incisions are that small.
“It's a lot less than that,” Skubal said Monday. “They blend in pretty good. They're not very big. I don't think you'll think that it's from a scope or anything from what it looks like right now. Once they fully heal, I don't know what they'll look like.”
That’s the first sign that the procedure Skubal underwent to remove the loose body from his elbow was different than a traditional arthroscopic surgery. The second, more obvious sign is the recovery.
“I think just the next day, I started to feel better,” he said. “From other surgeries I've had in the past, you're in a cast and you can't move your arm. This one, I wasn't in one. I was in an arm sleeve and actually encouraged to get back range of motion as fast as I can. Within about 3-4 days, I think, we got there, and I think that was very encouraging.”
That was the big selling point for Skubal to have a procedure that had been performed on hockey players but was new to baseball. He wasn’t worried about the looks. He was focused on when he could pitch again.
When Dr. Neal ElAttrache -- the same doctor who performed his flexor tendon surgery a few years ago -- presented the option of the NanoScope procedure, Skubal was all ears.
“I think the first thing they said was the recovery will be faster,” Skubal said, “and then I think I stopped listening after that. I was like, 'All right, I'm good with it if you're good with it.'
“You trust the doctors. ElAttrache is the best surgeon in the world, so you just trust those guys to make those decisions and if he's comfortable with it, I don't see why I wouldn't be comfortable with it.”
The idea was simple: By using a smaller instrument to remove the loose body from Skubal’s elbow, the procedure would be less invasive, impact less tissue and induce less swelling. The return would thus be simpler, from regaining range of motion to throwing. And with less time sidelined, Skubal would hopefully retain more of his arm endurance that he had built up before the surgery.
“I mean, I’ve learned more about it in the last two weeks than I ever thought I would,” manager A.J. Hinch said, “but that has to impact the recovery and his ability to now not have to start all the way over with a six-week build the way that you do at the beginning of the spring.”
So far, that hope has played out. Monday marked Skubal’s second throwing session on a mound since the surgery 12 days earlier. So far, things feel good. Instead of building up the arm, Skubal is far enough along to start settling back into a routine of bullpen sessions.
“Everything's very normal right now,” he said. “I think that's the goal to get back to as normal as fast as possible and get back on a five-day rotation and get your body in shape to be back in the big leagues.”
That doesn’t mean the Tigers or Skubal are ready to put a timetable on his return. But he’s on a pace that would likely beat the typical 2-3 month timetable for a traditional arthroscopic elbow surgery.
In the process, Skubal has become a test case for a procedure that other pitchers could have the option to follow.
“You guys asked last time I was here: 'What are you going to take from this situation?' You're trying to find positives, right, and I think this is one of those positives,” Skubal said. “I'm not going to guarantee I'm going to be back in however many weeks or months or whatever it is, but I'm going to work my [tail] off to get there and try to do those things. But to be able to have some optimism to be back earlier than I initially thought, that's a positive to be taken from all this.”
Whether the term "Skubal Scope" -- which his agent, Scott Boras, mentioned -- sticks is another matter.
“That wasn't a Boras thing. That was an ElAttrache thing,” Skubal said.
“He's the one who said it and then Boras ran with it. …
“When he said it, I said, 'I don't know, Doc. I don't know if I want to have an injury named after me. That's not the most positive thing.' I guess if this can kind of change the recovery -- my situation was unique just based on where the loose body was, because it was pretty superficial – but yeah, I guess it's cool. I haven't really wrapped my brain around wanting to have an injury named after me. We'll see. The jury's out.”