A business card, an offer and K-Swiss sneakers: in ALDS Game 5, Tarik Skubal’s story in Seattle comes full circle
The Athletic covers Tigers’ Game 5 vs. Mariners live
SEATTLE — The first time Tarik Skubal threw a mound in this city, his father was running around town…looking for shoes.
Elliott Cribby, then pitching coach at Seattle University, had recently discovered this little-known left-hander with the funny name. At a tournament in Peoria, Ariz., Skubal turned on the speed cameras one day, then watched scouts flee the field as his fastball approached another 82 mph.
To Cribby, though, something stood out about the arm action. Something seemed right about this kid with his big kick and a little too much baby fat.
Call it luck. Call it destiny. Whichever word you prefer, Cribby was right.
“As a coach, it’s like winning the lottery,” Cribby said. “Meeting Tarik for the first time, recruiting him, you could see in his eyes that he was different.”
When Skubal’s unlikely recruitment began, Seattle University’s baseball program was in its infancy. The school had cut baseball years ago and only recently reinstated the sport. Seattle U did not have its own field and had virtually no equipment. But Cribby left a business card with big red letters.
That calling card became Skubal’s only Division I college offer. The problem with this story is the fact that Skubal didn’t really want to go.
“I was like, ‘Dad, I’m not going to call this guy,’” Skubal once said. “I’m not going to call this number because I don’t want to go play baseball in Seattle. I’d rather stay in Arizona.'”
Skubal’s father pushed him. “No. Call.”
Cribby invited Skubal to attend a Seattle U camp. Skubal’s family had to pay for the trip, camp and hotel. They made the trip from their home in Kingman, Arizona. They expected to camp outside. Skubal’s bullpen ended up on a portable infield mound of turf that did not allow for cleats to be installed. Skubal only had his pointe shoes and a pair of slides. He has unusually large feet – size 14, Cribby estimates, although one of Skubal’s feet is actually larger than the other – so he couldn’t easily borrow a pair of turf shoes.
But it was supposed to be the biggest bullpen of his life, so Russ Skubal rushed. He returned to the establishment with a huge pair of white K-Swiss sneakers.
They didn’t exactly radiate swagger.
“It was quite funny to watch,” Cribby said. “But he was really good that day.”
Cribby was not expected to offer scholarships until head coach Donny Harrel returned after dealing with a family situation. He still suggested Skubal.
“I wouldn’t let him go until he’s committed,” Cribby said.
The decision to go to college in Seattle changed Skubal’s life.
Now heading into Friday’s deciding Game 5 of the American League Division Series against the Seattle Mariners, Skubal is back in this city for what could be the biggest game of his career.
Once a goofy kid with a toothy smile and funny shoes, he’s now at the top of his craft, an intimidating presence who intimidates the batter, backpedals off the mound and commands the game in a way few others can claim.
Without this bullpen, this offer and these K-Swiss sneakers, who knows where he could be?
During his college years, Skubal sat high up in T-Mobile Park. He bought a ticket to watch Félix Hernández pitch. He remembers the flashing lights and blaring horns as Edwin Díaz came in to close out games.
“I was like, ‘This is the coolest place in the world,’” Skubal said. “I had goosebumps when he came running in and they were doing his whole thing.”
The first days in Seattle were difficult to adapt to. Cribby could sense Skubal’s reluctance. He coached him hard but did his best to build an authentic relationship. He hosted him for Thanksgiving and Easter.
“He was a fish out of water in a big city,” said Cribby, who later coached at Washington and now coaches at a high school in suburban Seattle.
Once an awkward student with long hair, Skubal is now the best player to ever come out of school. His photo hangs on a mural above Bannerwood Field. While returning to Seattle, Skubal stopped by campus to visit the Redhawks baseball team. His most recent message was aimed at college kids like himself, who watched major league games as if they were part of another universe, reserved for players with more talent, more deals or more publicity.
“I just remember when I went to school there, the professional guys would come back and train with us, and I thought that was really cool,” Skubal said. “I idolized those guys. … So I think it’s important to understand that it’s not a dream. You can dream of playing in the big leagues and being drafted and all that, but these things can become a reality.”
Much of Skubal’s time in Seattle remains etched in his philosophy. He bought tickets to the second game for every member of the Seattle University baseball team, about 34 people. He had his favorite Seattle restaurant – Tacos Chukis – over for the Tigers after the game.
“I dream of this place,” Skubal said. “It’s so good.”
Less than a decade ago, when Skubal was still a college pitcher undergoing Tommy John surgical rehab and walking more than six batters per nine innings, it would have been difficult for Skubal to imagine any of this coming to fruition.
Earlier this season, when the Tigers played their second road series at T-Mobile Park, they hosted Tarik Skubal Night. Old college friends, coaches and family members gathered and reunited on the third deck of T-Mobile Park.
Just a few days ago, Skubal sat in a gaudy interview room, preparing to start a playoff game in the city that changed his life.
“Moments like that are full circle or surreal, whatever you want to say,” Skubal said. “And that brings us back to the question of why do I want to go back and do these things.”
Sunday in Game 2, before another warmup in this Puget Sound outpost, Skubal walked to the bullpen at T-Mobile Park, radiating a certain aura. The gold patch on the back of his jersey, symbolizing his Cy Young status, gleamed in the afternoon light.
He was only a ninth-round pick, but he has become a formidable prospect. Even then, Skubal would not have reached these heights without more work, more growth, more evolution. Early in his career, he went to Driveline Baseball outside of Seattle, hoping to improve his arsenal. He stayed at Cribby’s while he played with a splitter he could never master.
He underwent another surgery, developed the nastiest changeup in the game, refined his mechanics and improved his command.
“You can’t necessarily predict a player will reach his status,” Cribby said. “It’s a credit to who he is.”
Before Game 2, fans wearing gear with the Olde English D and Mariners tridents clung to the railing and crowded around one of baseball’s most intimate bullpens. Most looked at Skubal intently. Of course, a few hecklers couldn’t resist.
Seattle U is not hereone of them shouted.
Tonight is the night you lose controlsaid another.
Skubal held the Mariners to just two runs in seven innings. A pair of home run balls to Jorge Polanco was the only damage. The Tigers still lost, 3-2.
Skubal is the Tigers’ best weapon, the main reason they got this far. Including the playoffs, they are 22-11 in games that Skubal starts. They are 69-67 in games without him. The left-hander finished the regular season with a 2.21 ERA and is the favorite to win a second consecutive American League Cy Young Award. No AL pitcher has done this since Pedro Martinez in 1999 and 2000.
“We win together, we lose together, but he leads us,” Tigers manager AJ Hinch said. “He’s a big presence going into Game 5. As we get on that plane to go across the country, we have a lot of optimism going in that direction because of Tarik Skubal’s presence.”
Oddly enough, the Mariners have already beaten Skubal three times this season, twice in Seattle and once in Detroit. Last season, the Tigers lost a heartbreaking Game 5 of the ALDS to the Guardians with Skubal on the mound.
But after the Tigers came back from the abyss to beat the Mariners in an emotional Game 4, Skubal is back here where it all began. He will get the ball back for Game 5, hoping to add a new chapter to a legend that started from nothing.
“I was born in California, raised in Arizona, but I feel like I grew up here in college becoming independent,” Skubal said. “So this place will always have a special place in my heart.”
(Top photo: Steph Chambers/Getty Images)
