DETROIT – Baseball's No. 1 pitching prospect, Casey Mize, threw a no-hitter in his first Double-A game, but even he hasn't had a stretch as dominant as the one rising prospect Tarik Skubal is currently riding.
Skubal, who rose to become the No. 4 prospect in the organization last month, delivered another stellar performance Wednesday for the Double-A Erie SeaWolves.
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Skubal struck out 10 batters in five innings, allowing just one hit and no runs. He whiffed the first six batters of the game in order, retired the first 11 batters he faced and allowed only a two-out double in the bottom of the fourth inning.
The 22-year-old left-hander needed just 66 pitches to get through five innings, retiring 15 of the 16 batters he faced.
Since getting called up to Double-A in early July, Skubal has struck out double-digit batters in five of six starts.
Other than a hiccup against the Trenton Thunder on July 25, when Skubal allowed five earned runs on eight hits in 3.1 innings, he's been the ace of the loaded SeaWolves rotation.
In his other five starts, Skubal has allowed just one earned run on nine hits in 25.2 innings while striking out 54 batters.
A ninth-round pick in the 2018 draft out of Seattle University, Skubal didn't get the attention received by Mize, Alex Faedo, Matt Manning and Beau Burrows -- the last four first-round picks by Detroit.
But he's surpassed Faedo and Burrows in the organization's prospect rankings and has entered the conversation, with Mize and Manning, as being a potential impact piece for the team's future.
In 21 total starts this season between Single-A and Double-A, Skubal has 167 strikeouts in 114.1 innings with a 0.97 WHIP, a 2.28 ERA and low walk and strikeout rates.
Skubal is a consistent bat misser who throws strikes and keeps the ball in the park. It looks as if the Tigers may have found a hidden gem in the middle rounds of the draft.