Tarik Skubal is UNREAL right now! 😱 #tarikskubal #detroittigers #mlbnews #baseball #pitcher #mlb

Jun 30, 2025 · Scott Seidenberg · 43 Views

🔢 0:00–0:08 — Opening Stats: Setting the Bar High
Speaker: Scott Seidenberg

“Rick Scoble has a 9.86 strikeout to walk ratio. The second best in Major League Baseball and Sir Schwellenbach at six.”

💡 Insights:
Seidenberg begins with a statistical exclamation point, jokingly misnaming Tarik Skubal as “Rick Scoble.”

Strikeout-to-walk ratio (K/BB): 9.86, the second-best in the entire league, suggests an elite ability to dominate without giving up free bases.

Compares this to Sir Schwellenbach’s 6.0 ratio, also strong, but far behind, spotlighting the gap between excellent and elite.

This stat is a key indicator of a pitcher’s control and dominance — more strikeouts and fewer walks means more outs with fewer pitches.

By referencing a comparative ratio, Seidenberg immediately positions Skubal as extraordinary, not just good.

🧠 0:08–0:49 — Mechanics and Strategy: A Masterclass by Josh Towers
Speaker: Josh Towers

“Yeah, and why? People are like, again, we just look at him and go, he's good. Why?..."

🧬 Technical Analysis:
🎯 Downhill Mechanics
Towers explains Skubal doesn’t pitch “flat” (i.e., across the plane of the strike zone with minimal vertical movement).

Instead, he “pitches downhill,” meaning from a steeper release point, adding velocity perception and keeping the ball on the plate longer.

This forces batters to delay their swing decisions, giving Skubal more chances to induce bad contact or misses.

🔁 Sequencing Brilliance
Skubal uses pitch sequencing masterfully:

Starts with a changeup low and in (bottom left quadrant) to slow batters’ timing.

Follows up with a fastball high and away (top right quadrant), exploiting the disrupted rhythm.

Rather than simply “mixing pitches,” Skubal manipulates location and timing across multiple dimensions.

🧭 Dual-Dimension Strategy
He’s playing both the “back and forth game” (vertical deception) and the “in and out game” (horizontal deception).

Each pitch not only serves as an individual weapon but also a set-up for the next, maximizing effectiveness.

These overlapping dimensions outmaneuver batters psychologically.

🚫 Critique of Modern Trends
Towers warns, “Throwing up is not the answer,” criticizing the current MLB trend toward high-velocity, high-zone fastballs.

Skubal’s success doesn’t depend on overpowering velocity but on strategic pitch placement and decision manipulation.

“This guy’s riding the blueprint” — Skubal’s approach should be the standard model, but it’s not being widely followed.

🌌 0:49–0:51 — Seidenberg's Final Thought
Speaker: Scott Seidenberg

“He is unbelievable. He's just on a different planet right now.”

🧠 Final Reflection:
A powerful wrap-up: “Unbelievable” underscores Skubal’s current form as beyond expectation.

“Different planet” reinforces the theme that Skubal’s mastery puts him in a league of his own.

This isn’t just hot form — it’s a redefinition of elite pitching in real-time.

📈 Player Statistics from the Transcript
Player K/BB Ratio MLB Rank
Tarik Skubal 9.86 2nd
Sir Schwellenbach 6.0 N/A (for comparison)

No other raw stats (ERA, WHIP, innings, etc.) are given, making the K/BB ratio the focal point of the argument.

It’s a perfect stat to showcase both control (few walks) and dominance (many strikeouts) — Skubal excels at both.

🧱 Tactical Blueprint Summary
Element Description
Downhill Pitching Adds perceived velocity, delays batter timing, increases deception
Pitch on Plate Longer Extends decision window, increases chance of strike or weak contact
Changeup Fastball Combo Uses low-inside off-speed to set up high-velocity outside strike
Back-and-Forth (Vertical) Varies height of pitches to mess with hitter eye level
In-and-Out (Horizontal) Varies inside vs. outside location to disrupt swing path
Critique of Trend Most pitchers go “up” and chase velo, but Skubal wins with strategy

🏁 Final Takeaway
Though short, this transcript is rich in insight. Through a single conversation, we see how Tarik Skubal is breaking conventional pitching wisdom using a precision-based, cerebral approach. With elite K/BB stats and deep mastery of sequencing and deception, Skubal isn’t just performing well — he’s changing the narrative on how elite pitching should be evaluated and taught.

Topics: MLB