Tarik Skubal and Max Scherzer meet, talk baseball after spring matchup

DUNEDIN, Fla. — Ask most starting pitchers, and they’ll say they don’t think about who’s starting on the mound for the opposing team. They don’t have to pitch to the guy, or worry about hitting him, so they’ll focus on their own game.

But when Tarik Skubal realized earlier in the week who would be starting opposite him for his visit to the Blue Jays on Saturday afternoon, he was geeked.

“Oh, [heck] yeah,” Skubal said Wednesday when told Max Scherzer was the Blue Jays’ scheduled starter.

Skubal has Justin Verlander as a teammate with the Tigers this spring. He shared a locker room with Clayton Kershaw for his World Baseball Classic stint with Team USA, where Andy Pettitte was his pitching coach. But he had never met Scherzer, who won his first of three Cy Young Awards as a Tiger in 2013 and remains Detroit’s last 20-game winner. Beyond the Tigers ties, Scherzer’s story of proving doubters wrong about his longevity has long appealed to Skubal, a ninth-round pick in 2018 after undergoing Tommy John surgery while in college.

“Just his story,” Skubal said, “I think he was told he was going to break down at 21 and he sure hasn’t. I love those types of stories, like the max-effort thing wouldn’t work. And it’s like, ‘I don’t know, he’s been pretty good, so you tell me.’

“You look at the numbers and what he’s able to accomplish: World Series, Cy Youngs, all that stuff. He’s as accomplished as anybody in this game and he’s going to be a Hall of Famer, so it’s really cool just to get to know guys like that.”

They had admired each other from afar for the last few years. But with a chance to meet, Skubal debated how to approach him.

“I’ve heard he’s kinda crazy on his start day,” Skubal said, “but I didn’t know [about a] Spring Training setting. Because I wanted to say hi to him before the game and I’m like, ‘Eh, I don’t know about that. Probably not the right moment.’”

So Skubal, making his first start since pitching for Team USA last weekend, did his usual pregame routine, took the mound and delivered seven strikeouts over 4 2/3 innings. Like his WBC start against Great Britain, his lone run allowed was a homer, this one from Daulton Varsho. He got his first strikeout on a pitch that he challenged, spotted a 99 mile-per-hour sinker that froze Eloy Jiménez for another strikeout, and used his full arsenal while trusting catcher Dillon Dingler’s creative game plan.

But instead of focusing on his next inning while sitting in the dugout with the Tigers at bat, Skubal watched Scherzer, who tossed 4 2/3 scoreless innings with five strikeouts in his second outing of the spring. The 41-year-old picked up six whiffs and eight called strikes on a fastball that averaged 93.4 mph and topped out at 95.4.

“In these settings, I’m watching him,” he said, “and [pitching coach Chris Fetter] is sitting to my right and he’s like, ‘This is incredible that he’s still doing this. And I go, ‘Absolutely.’

“He still looks great. And I think that’s motivation for me. I’m 29. I want to look like that when I’m 41, and doing things like I do today, my routine, staying consistent to it. And hopefully I’m doing the same things then. And obviously that’s down the road; I need to be present. But it’s cool to just watch guys like that.”

Skubal didn’t have to just watch. Since it’s Spring Training, the Blue Jays granted permission for Skubal to use their workout facility at TD Ballpark to do his post-start lifting. When he walked in, there was Scherzer.

“We just talked baseball, how he’s moving, how he’s feeling and all that stuff,” he said. “And obviously he looked great today. …

“The last time I saw him throw I think was two years ago, and I thought he looked better today than he did two years ago. And that’s incredible considering he’s 41. I [told him] 43 and he said 41, and I go, ‘My bad, dude.’”

He was confusing Scherzer’s age for Verlander’s.

“The other [future] Hall of Famer is 43,” he said.

But as both are showing, age is just a number. And attention to detail matters.

“That’s what I’m starting to learn from these guys that are really good,” Skubal said. “He’s so dialed in. He was talking about things that I’ll keep between us, but I would mentally never go to the places. He’s opening my eyes. Same with guys like Verlander. Just the way they prepare, it’s really special to watch.”