Detroit — The way Tarik Skubal explained it, he’s pushing as hard as he can to go as fast as he can and the Tigers’ medical and training team is like one giant harness trying to hold him back.
“But that’s good,” he said. “That’s how it has to be. Because I am anxious. I want to be playing as bad as anyone.”
It’s how it’s going to be for both Skubal, who is working back from flexor tendon surgery, and Matt Manning, who is rehabbing a broken bone in his foot.
Both starting pitchers are in the home stretch. Skubal’s next rehab start will be at Toledo on Wednesday; Manning’s will be the next day, Thursday. The hope is they will be back in the big leagues early next month.
But they will not be back until the Tigers are certain all the boxes are checked.
“If you watched Tarik’s last outing, he didn’t throw enough pitches,” Tigers president Scott Harris said. “So after the outing was over, he just walked straight back to the bullpen and finished his pitches there. It’s tough when you see that happen. You want him to be in the big leagues immediately.”
But the plans the Tigers have devised are tailored individually for Skubal, Manning and every injured player. And they are specific, put together with science and precedent, and there’s no ad-libbing.
“We do a lot of work behind the scenes on the history of these injuries and the success rates of rehab programs,” Harris said. “We’re going to stay hyperdisciplined. We can’t afford not to. These guys are too important to our future to accelerate their rehabs to get one extra start this year.”
Skubal and Manning, though, are like thoroughbreds chained at the starting gate. They can’t wait to get turned loose.
“I think this is the most frustrating part of the rehab, just not being able to progress at the rate you think you are ready for,” Skubal said. “I understand the cautious approach. You know, take your time and make sure you feel good after every start.
“I’ve felt really good after every start. I am just going to continue stacking these good days and go from there.”
If this were a spring training build-up, both Skubal and Manning would go five innings in their next start. Manager AJ Hinch was quick to point out, though, this is not a spring training build-up.
“It’s different,” he said. “It will depend on efficiency. Like with Skubal, he had to go to the bullpen after his last outing because we didn’t get the volume we had hoped. The one thing that’s different is you can’t really assume anything in the minors.
“But Skubal is coming off an arm injury and Matty, we’ve extended faster because his rehab has nothing to do with his arm. It was his foot. They’re different.”
Hinch said the Tigers will rely on Toledo manager Anthony Iapoce and pitching coach Doug Bochtler to monitor the innings.
“They will monitor it inning by inning,” Hinch said. “It could be three innings at a certain number of pitches. It could get extended to a fourth inning or a fifth inning. There is some unpredictability to what we’re going to get.”
Turning up the heat
During spring training, Tyler Alexander seemed obsessed with adding a tick or two of velocity to his fastball. Every time he’d throw a Plyo-ball at a wall, he’d yell, “90” on the release. Every drill was customized to smooth out his delivery, improve his core strength and get his velocity, which has always hovered between 87-89 mph, through that 90-mph barrier.
“I would reach back, throw it as hard as I could and it was always 88-89,” he shrugged.
It was 88-89 most of the season, too. And as he’s proven the last five seasons, he can pitch very effectively with that velocity. With his weapons and precise command, he doesn’t rely on velocity. But it’s like having turbo-boost — it’s not really necessary but really nice to have.
Don’t look now, but Alexander’s velocity this month is hitting and exceeding 90 mph.
“The stuff I was doing in spring training, I’ve continued to do,” he said. “I don’t know if it’s a product of my mechanics, the warm weather or that my arm just feels good — which it does.”
In his last two outings, he’s thrown nine sinkers with an average velocity of 91 mph and 14 four-seamers also averaging 91 mph. In the eighth inning Monday, with runners on first and third with one out and the Tigers up 6-4, he froze left-handed hitting MJ Melendez with two straight sinkers.
“Maybe I just throw hard now,” Alexander said, laughing.
In five games this month, Alexander has allowed just two runs (both on home runs) in 12⅔ innings, with 13 strikeouts and three walks. He’s holding hitters to a .136 average, a .192 on-base percentage and a .296 slugging percentage.
“With my fastball being harder, my cutter also has been a bit harder,” he said. “My cutter being harder has helped my fastball more. Usually the cutter is 85 to 86, 87 on a good day. Now it’s 87, 88, 89. It moves less but it’s harder, which I love.
“Those two pitches have worked well off each other.”
Around the horn
Left-handed starter Eduardo Rodriguez (finger) will take a big step toward returning to competition on Saturday. He is expected to face hitters in a live bullpen session.
… Outfielder Matt Vierling (back spasm) was available off the bench Tuesday and expects to be back in the starting lineup Wednesday. He hit in the cage and ran on the field before the game and said he felt good. He reiterated that the spasms weren’t related to his previous back injury.
“When I first hurt it three weeks ago, it felt different,” he said. “It hurt to hit. Today I hit and didn’t feel anything near what I felt before.”
… Right-handed starting pitcher Spencer Turnbull (neck injury) has begun his throwing progression. He threw out to 60 feet Monday and will increase it to 75 feet Wednesday and 90 feet Friday.
… Outfielders Riley Greene (fibula) and Akil Baddoo (quad) are playing catch, running and hitting in the cage daily. Greene is still wearing the air cast but he hopes Tuesday was the last day he’d have to wear it.
… Right-handed reliever Beau Brieske (ulnar nerve entrapment) will continue his rehab assignment in Toledo without any pre-scheduled outings. Instead, he will be available out of the bullpen whenever needed. This is a way for him to simulate warming up quickly at unexpected moments, like he would when he’s activated.
Royals at Tigers
▶ First pitch: 1:10 p.m. Wednesday, Comerica Park, Detroit
▶ TV/radio: BSD/97.1
SCOUTING REPORT
▶ RHP Brady Singer (4-6, 6.33), Royals: He’s enduring the worst statistical season of his young career. The entire opponent slash-line against him is a career high (.297/.365/.516, .881 OPS). He strikeout rate is down (20%) and his walk rate is up (9%). The average exit velocity on balls in play against him (92 mph) and his hard-hit rate (56%) rank in the worst 1 percentile in baseball.
▶ LHP Matthew Boyd (4-5, 5.60), Tigers: You need to look beneath the top-line results (ERA, WHIP) to see how good Boyd’s stuff has been. Even though he’s been burned by the home run ball in his last two starts, the hard-hit rate against him overall is 34%, which is in the top 21 percentile in baseball. He’s posted 20 strikeouts and three walks in his last three starts. His changeup (.244 opponent average, 40% whiff rate) and slider (.209, 30%) have been elite weapons. Results and the quality of a pitcher’s stuff don’t always match.
chris.mccosky@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @cmccosky