Seattle U grad Tarik Skubal wins AL Cy Young Award

During Tarik Skubal’s early days pitching for Seattle University, coach Donny Harrel had modest hopes that the left-hander with a dramatic leg kick could maybe someday turn into a useful, middle-of-the-rotation starter for the Redhawks.

No one dared to dream what Skubal would become a decade later.

Skubal, the Detroit Tigers’ ace, was named the American League Cy Young Award winner on his 28th birthday Wednesday afternoon, the culmination of an unlikely rise from a lightly-regarded high-school recruit to the most dominant pitcher in the sport.

Harrel scheduled Seattle U’s fall-ball practice Wednesday around the MLB announcement so the Redhawks could watch on TV as Skubal accepted the award.

“We’re all very proud of him, and proud that he’s still as humble as he was when he was here with us,” Harrel said.

Skubal was the obvious choice to win his first Cy Young. The only real question was whether he would be a unanimous selection — and he did, receiving

Skubal won the AL Triple Crown this year — leading the league in wins (18), earned-run average (2.39) and strikeouts (228) — and he led all MLB pitchers with a 6.3 bWAR.

Mariners right-hander Logan Gilbert finished sixth in the Cy Young voting, and was the only Mariners pitcher to receive votes. In the best season of his career, Gilbert led MLB in innings pitched (208.2) and WHIP (0.89), and he became the first Mariners pitcher since Felix Hernandez in 2014 to eclipse 200 innings and 200 strikeouts in the same season.

AL Cy Young voting breakdown

Skubal is the third pitcher with local high school/college ties to win a Cy Young.

Tim Lincecum, a product of UW and Liberty High, won back-to-back NL Cy Young Awards with the San Francisco in 2008 and ’09.

Shorewood High’s Blake Snell won Cy Young awards in 2018 and 2023.

Seattle U was the only Division I program to offer Skubal a scholarship opportunity when the left-hander was coming out of Kingman, Ariz., a small town celebrated for its place on historic Route 66. And even that offer was minimal — a quarter scholarship with financial aid.

Elliott Cribby, now the associate head coach at Central Washington, was in his first season as Seattle U’s pitching coach when he stumbled on Skubal at a high-school tournament in Peoria, Ariz. Before Harrel signed off on the scholarship offer, he met with Skubal in a hotel lobby in Arizona and was impressed by the confidence Skubal exuded.

“It was a mid-to-upper 80s arm, and his body still had a lot of baby fat to it,” Harrel recalled. “But he had a strong arm and wide shoulders, you could see some projection (in his 6-foot-3 frame). … We talked to a lot of his high-school coaches and coaches in his league and they all said that he was a winner — he just wants to win. So we took a flier on him.”

In his first year in Seattle, Skubal emerged as freshman All-American in 2015. But he needed Tommy John surgery on his throwing elbow the following year, wiping out most of his 2016 and 2017 seasons.

He would return in 2018 to set a number of modern-era school records before the Tigers selected him in the ninth round of the 2018 MLB draft, but it was the year he spent recovering from Tommy John surgery that most impressed his coach.

Unable to pitch himself, Skubal became something of a pitching coach, sitting in the bullpen during games and offering support and encouragement to his teammates.

“He was a vocal leader. He ran our bullpen that year,” Harrel said. “And just his thirst and his desire for us to be great, to put others first and never feel sorry for himself, that showed me more about who he was as a person than anything else during his time here.”

Skubal graduated from Seattle U with a degree in finance, and he was inducted into the school’s athletics Hall of Fame earlier this year. He’s remained close to Harrel and the program, happy to meet up with current and former players whenever the Tigers are in town to play the Mariners.