From the Redhawks to the Cy Young

The four years Tarik Skubal, ‘18, spent at Seattle University didn’t just give him a grounding in baseball. In fact, when the Detroit Tigers all-star pitcher and Cy Young contender looks back on his time in college, he sees the path that led him to be the person he is today.

“It taught me a lot about myself and then kind of how to navigate life,” Skubal says. “That's just something that I think Seattle University did a great job of too, making me feel comfortable and confident and to be myself. That's something that I'll always love about Seattle University and the city of Seattle.”

Standing alone on a pitcher’s mound, Skubal faced down the best batters in the world for the 2024 Major League Baseball season. And what a season it was. The Seattle University Athletics Hall of Famer is in line to win the top prize for pitching in the American League, the Cy Young Award, to be announced Wednesday, Nov. 20.

“I'm excited for all that stuff to be announced and enjoy it with my family and celebrate with some teammates and then family and friends,” Skubal says of the Cy Young. “It'll be pretty special all the way around.”

He finished his fourth season as the winner of the “triple crown” for the American League, leading in the top three statistical categories by recording 18 wins against four losses, a 2.39 earned run average and 228 strikeouts. 

Skubal majored in finance at the Albers School of Business and Economics but also learned how to throw a baseball faster and more accurately than any human should be able to.

With a repertoire of five pitches—and throwing at speeds of up to 97 mph—he befuddled batters as the Tigers lone ace following a spate of mid-season trades and is credited for helping push the team into this year’s playoffs for the first time in 10 years.

Despite the standout season, Skubal started the year with only a modest set of personal goals. “I just wanted to play a healthy season, make every start every fifth day,” he says.

His team goals were to earn entry into the postseason and play what he calls “meaningful baseball.

“And we were able to do that,” he says. “So that was kind of my main goal was just playing the postseason, however that happened. So, it was a very fun and successful season.”

The Seattle University Connection

His path to the Tigers runs through Seattle and his time here on the baseball team. Leaving behind his home and family in Arizona wasn’t easy and Skubal was no different than any other college freshman. After four or five days on campus, he broke down from homesickness before finding his way.

“It was good though,” he says, reflecting on himself at 17 years old striking out on his own, not even old enough to sign his commitment paperwork. “You need to be a little bit uncomfortable to grow, so I think that that was great.”

During his time as a Redhawk he overcame injury, missing most of the 2016 season and all of the 2017 season after surgery on his pitching arm, but later going on to considerable success—he set SU records for career wins, lowest ERA for a starting pitcher and opponent batting average. Skubal wrapped up his college career with a 21-7 record as a starter. In his senior season he logged 80 innings with 106 strikeouts and 56 walks before the Tigers drafted him in the ninth round.

Skubal says it’s important to recognize the people who supported him, which is part of why he holds such a special place for Seattle University and the city. “I'm very appreciative of the coaching staff and mentors and professors who guided me through those four years.”

Seattle University baseball coach Donny Harrel praises Skubal’s season with the Tigers as a testament to perseverance.

“We are incredibly proud of his resilience in coming back from a second arm surgery and it was inspiring to see his hard work and preparation pay off,” Harrel says.

Though the Redhawks have the distinction of extending to Skubal his only NCAA Division I scholarship offer, it didn’t take long for word to spread that SU brought aboard someone special.

While serving as the public address announcer at Bannerwood Park—the site of Redhawk home games—Jef Lucero had a unique vantage point not only on the movement and power of Skubal’s pitches, but also of the big league scouts who would pack into the room next to the press box, each with a radar gun.

Then, when Skubal left the game, so did all the scouts, up to 20 of them at one time, spilling out of the room.

“It was electrifying,” Lucero says of watching Skubal pitch and leaving batters flailing at the plate. “Hitters didn’t have any answers.”

In this off-season Skubal is looking forward to recovering from the grind of the season as he prepares for next year. He lives in his home state of Arizona with his wife Jessica and their son Kasen.

When the Tigers return to Seattle to play the Mariners at the end of March 2025, Skubal plans to set some time aside to visit his alma mater and the city he once called home.

“The city, the food, the environment, the culture created at Seattle University,” he says. “You're in the middle of a big city, but it feels like a small little family just based on the campus. That’s something special and it'll hold a special place in my heart for the rest of my life.”