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Detroit Tigers' Tarik Skubal unanimously wins 2024 American League Cy Young Award
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- Detroit Tigers' Tarik Skubal unanimously wins 2024 American League Cy Young Award
Detroit Tigers left-hander Tarik Skubal received all 30 first-place votes as the unanimous winner of the 2024 American League Cy Young Award on Wednesday evening, putting an emphatic stamp on his status as the best pitcher in the game.
Oh, and one more reason to celebrate: It's his 28th birthday.
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Skubal — a ninth-round pick in the 2018 draft out of Seattle University who had just one Division I offer — went 18-4 with a 2.39 ERA, 35 walks and 228 strikeouts across 192 innings in 31 starts. He led the AL in wins, ERA and strikeouts to secure the first AL pitching Triple Crown in a 162-game season since Justin Verlander in 2011.
Detroit Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal (29) delivers a fast pitch against the Seattle Mariners at Comerica Park in Detroit on Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2024.
Kansas City Royals right-hander Seth Lugo finished second and Cleveland Guardians right-handed reliever Emmanuel Clase finished third in the AL Cy Young race, as voted on by the Baseball Writers Association of America.
BEFORE THE SEASON: How Tigers' Tarik Skubal matured into an Opening Day ace with Cy Young potential
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A total of 30 voters from the BBWAA — two writers representing each AL city — ranked their top five Cy Young candidates on a ballot submitted before the beginning of the postseason. The votes were worth seven points for first place, four for second place, three for third place, two for fourth place and one for fifth place.
Skubal received all 30 first-place votes for a total of 210 points. He's the 12th unanimous winner in the American League, and second straight, after New York's Gerrit Cole did it last year.
Lugo, 35, registered a 3.00 ERA with 48 walks and 181 strikeouts across 206⅔ innings in 33 starts; Clase, 26, logged a 0.61 ERA with 10 walks and 66 strikeouts across 74⅓ innings in 66 relief appearances, racking up 47 saves in 50 chances.
"Skubal is the best starting pitcher in the game right now," Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said after Game 5 in the ALDS. "He's an unbelievable pitcher. I have a ton of respect for him and what he's done in this game. He's going to be really good for a very long time."
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MANAGER OF THE YEAR: Tigers' A.J. Hinch finishes 3rd in 2024 American League Manager of the Year voting
Detroit Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal (29) celebrates after striking out Tampa Bay Rays left fielder Christopher Morel (24) during the seventh inning at Comerica Park in Detroit on Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024.
Not only did Skubal win the AL Cy Young Award, but he also made the All-Star team for the first time in his five-year MLB career. He wore his heart on his sleeve along the way as he screamed in celebration after strikeouts in big moments.
Skubal bullied hitters with his high-velocity four-seam fastball, averaging 96.8 mph and maxing out at 101.7 mph. He wiped out right-handed hitters with his swing-and-miss changeup, which had a 46.1% whiff rate.
Most notably, Skubal threw pitches inside the strike zone fearlessly to induce weak contact and generate whiffs. He was one of the top-five pitchers with a 55.3% in-zone rate and one of the top-seven pitchers with a 68.7% first-pitch strike rate.
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Of the 30 AL pitchers qualified for the ERA title, Skubal ranked first in ERA (2.39), first in strikeout rate (30.3%), tied for third in walk rate (4.6%), second in walks and hits per innings pitched (0.922), tied for third in opponent batting average (.200) and fifth in innings (192).
"He's all in," Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said after Game 1 of the ALDS. "He's intense, but he's under control. He's competitive, but he's a thinking man's pitcher. He's got weapons. He's the complete package of the guy that you want anchoring a staff."
Q&A: How Tigers manager A.J. Hinch brought postseason baseball back to Detroit
Nine AL pitchers have swept the Cy Young voting a combined 13 times, with Skubal in 2024 joining Cole (2023), Denny McLain (1968), Ron Guidry (1978), Roger Clemens (1986, 1998), Pedro Martínez (1999, 2000), Johan Santana (2004, 2006), Verlander (2011, 2022) and Shane Bieber (2020).
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Skubal is the fifth player in Tigers history to win the AL Cy Young Award, joining McLain (1968, 1969), Willie Hernández (1984), Verlander (2011) and Max Scherzer (2013).
"He's been able to grow in the national attention, yet be the same person behind the scenes with the same work ethic and the same routine," Hinch said before Game 1 of the AL wild-card series. "He's been nothing short of the best pitcher in baseball, and that's no disrespect to a lot of pitchers who are dominant at this level."
In the National League, Atlanta Braves left-hander Chris Sale won the NL Cy Young Award for the first time in his 14-year MLB career. He had six consecutive top-five finishes, including two top-three finishes, without winning from 2013-18. In 2024, Sale won the NL pitching Triple Crown by leading his league with 18 wins, a 2.38 ERA and 225 strikeouts.
Skubal and Sale became the first pitchers to win the Triple Crown in their respective leagues in the same season since Verlander and Clayton Kershaw in 2011.
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The 2024 Cy Young winners tied with 18 wins, but Skubal had more strikeouts (228 to 225) and Sale had a lower ERA (2.38 to 2.39). Had Skubal given up one fewer run, he would've led all MLB pitchers — spanning both leagues — in the three Triple Crown categories for the first time in a full season since Santana in 2006.
THE GUYS: Tarik Skubal and Jake Rogers: Friends, crossword puzzle enthusiasts, batterymates
"I don't think you can ever talk too much about Skub this year, just what he's done with the numbers in the regular season," Tigers catcher Jake Rogers , who called pitches for all 31 of Skubal's starts, said before Game 1 of the AL wild-card series. "I can't really put into words how good he's been. I think the confidence, the routine and him being himself is a huge step for him."
An AL pitcher hasn't won back-to-back Cy Young Awards since Martinez in 1999-2000.
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Skubal is primed to be the first in the 21st century.
After all, Skubal has been the best pitcher in baseball since July 4, 2023 — when he returned from flexor tendon surgery — leading all qualified pitchers with a 2.51 ERA and a 31% strikeout rate across 272⅓ innings in 46 starts.
He isn't showing any signs of slowing down.
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold .
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers' Tarik Skubal wins 2024 American League Cy Young Award
