Detroit — It must’ve felt like getting a new, shiny toy for Christmas and then having someone tell you not to play with it.
Tigers rookie Tarik Skubal went to Driveline Baseball in Kent, Washington, this winter and in the span of two days learned and added a split-fingered fastball to his repertoire. He’d been searching and searching for an effective off-speed pitch and traditional change-ups weren’t working for him.
The splitter felt like a revelation.
Except, as he brought it into the regular season, there were side effects. His fastball, his money pitch, wasn't the same.