Latest Tarik Skubal injury update is huge relief for Tigers

When the Detroit Tigers announced that Tarik Skubal, the two-time defending American League Cy Young Award winner, was undergoing a procedure to remove loose bodies from his elbow, the news came as a shock.

Trades were speculated. Injury timelines were postulated. Doomsday scenarios were hypothesized.

As it happened, none of the worst-case scenarios came to fruition. Even the initial report was wrong in one key regard.

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The procedure didn’t involve the removal of loose bodies — there was only one body to remove, according to Jon Heyman of the New York Post.

Skubal’s procedure “was such a success he could start working out within days, and two months is even seen as a conservative estimate for the 2-time Cy Young winner to return,” Heyman wrote on X on May 7.

After one “relatively small loose body” was removed from his elbow, Skubal could return within 4 to 6 weeks, according to Heyman.

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The news is a huge relief to the Tigers, and portends a swift return for one of MLB‘s best pitchers.

Skubal, 29, was 3-2 with a 2.70 ERA in seven starts before he was suddenly scratched from his scheduled start May 4. Last year, he won his second Cy Young Award in as many years by going 13-6 with an AL-leading 2.21 ERA.

In addition to Skubal, the Tigers have lost starting pitchers Justin Verlander (hip), Reese Olson (shoulder), (groin) and (Tommy John surgery) to various injuries. One of their three healty rotation mainstays, , was five games May 6 for throwing at Boston Red Sox shortstop .