Inside Tarik Skubals return to Detroit, where superstar rise began with MLB draft fall

When Tarik Skubal returns to Detroit on Friday night, memories will undoubtedly flood back of his rise with the Tigers: from unheralded prospect, to promising young talent, to the two-time Cy Young Award-winning face of the franchise.To those who have followed the left-hander’s career the longest, however, the story of his fall remains just as important.Long before he reached superstar status in Detroit, or became a blockbuster trade deadline acquisition for the Dodgers, or even established himself as a promising big-league talent with a high-velocity fastball and swing-and-miss changeup, Skubal was an intriguing-but-unheralded prospect entering his senior year of college — hoping to go much higher in the MLB draft than he ultimately did.California's top news, sports and entertainment delivered to your inbox every day.

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Never miss a story Dave Dangler remembers that Skubal, the one with the long hair and inconsistent command but clearly identifiable potential.As a Pacific Northwest area scout for the Tigers, Dangler had followed the southpaw’s time at Seattle University — the only Division I school to offer Skubal coming out of high school in tiny Kingman, Arizona, — as he went from freshman All-American to sophomore-season Tommy John recipient to high-round hopeful as a senior.“This guy,” Dangler recalled thinking to himself, “is interesting.”Entering Skubal’s senior season in 2018, Dangler wasn’t alone in that opinion.Skubal was seen as a potential sleeper by some in the scouting community.His college pitching coach, Elliott Cribby, believed he even had a route to becoming a first-round pick.But then, early in that comeback campaign, he struggled to find a feel with his surgically repaired arm.There was one game Dangler watched on a snowy night in Seattle, when Skubal’s erratic command le...