The Detroit Tigers are sending their Cy Young ace to the All-Star game for the second year in a row. Tarik Skubal is also on track to win a second Cy Young in a row and is playing at an even higher level than he did a year ago.
Amid his incredible first half, Pittsburgh Pirates ace Paul Skenes, in a piece from Bob Nightengale in USA Today, would love to talk with Skubal about his performance this season.
"It would be cool," Skenes said, "More than anything, I want to get him off to the side and ask him how he does what he does, basically. I've talked with him a little bit, but to see him do it again, at an even higher level than he did last year, arguably, it's pretty dang cool."
Last year, Skubal was an All-Star and won the Cy Young and Triple-Crown. He led baseball in Wins with 18, WAR with 6.4, strikeouts with 228, and led the American League in ERA with a 2.39.
While an incredible season, he's putting together a comparable year in 2025. He has 4.4 WAR through 18 starts, has a 2.02 ERA, and a 10-2 record, and through 116 innings, he has 148 strikeouts.
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The most impressive thing for Skubal is the sheer difference in rate stats. In 2024, his WHIP was a strong 0.922, while in 2025 it's a league-leading 0.810. He's allowing slightly fewer hits and home runs per nine innings, while allowing 0.5 fewer walks per nine this season.
He's striking out 11.5 batters per nine innings, more than his 10.7 in 2024. But, most impressively, Skubal has a 10.57 strikeout-walk ratio, significantly better than his 6.51 number from a year ago.
While Skubal was impressive a year ago, it makes sense why Skenes wants to pick his brain. His 2025 season has been remarkable, and despite having an incredible 2024 season, he's easily surpassing it so far in 2025.
There will likely be plenty of players interested in talking with Skubal about his stuff, but to have that interest come from Skenes, one of the NL favorites to win the Cy Young Award this year, shows how incredible he's pitching at the moment.
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