MLB 2025: Pitchers share stories of failed new pitches

Copy Link

Email

Print

BY ALL MEASURES, Detroit Tigers left-hander Tarik Skubal throws a good slider. Particularly when complementing one of the best fastballs and changeups in the game, the pitch serves as an effective third offering with the velocity and movement profile to stand on its own. There's just one problem with it, according to the reigning American League Cy Young Award winner.

It's not the slider he wants.

That version belongs to Clayton Kershaw, the future Hall of Famer whose tight, late-breaking slider has propelled him to the best career ERA of any starting pitcher in more than a century. Skubal reveres Kershaw's slider, coveting it to the point he will spend entire offseasons…