Detroit Tigers ace Tarik Skubal underwent surgery to remove a loose elbow particle, and Scott Boras says the pitcher’s recovery may be much quicker than the usual timetable. Boras said this week on ’s Baseball Tonight podcast that Dr. Neal ElAttrache used a NanoScope for the procedure, calling it “a Skubal scope.”
Boras said the device makes the operation less invasive than the arthroscopic surgeries pitchers often have to remove loose bodies, and he suggested that could shorten Skubal’s rehab. “We think that’s going to be a much shorter period,” Boras said, adding that Skubal should be able to return to performance “at just a much, much earlier stage.”
The news matters because Skubal was not just another injured arm for Detroit. He won the AL Cy Young Award in 2024 and again in 2025, had a 2.70 ERA in his first seven starts this season, and was eligible for free agency in the fall. When the Tigers first announced the surgery, there was speculation he would be back sometime after the All-Star break, while optimism inside the clubhouse pointed to early in June.
Skubal began feeling discomfort from a bone chip in his elbow after his last start on April 29, and after that outing he decided to have the chip removed. That sequence explains why the recovery debate has been so closely watched: pitchers who undergo arthroscopic procedures to remove loose bodies typically need two to three months, but Boras said Skubal’s case is different because he had already built arm strength through his offseason throwing program, spring training and the first part of the season. “This is really almost like receiving a shot,” Boras said.
The gap between the standard recovery window and Boras’s more aggressive outlook is the story here. If Skubal’s rehab follows the shorter track Boras described, Detroit could get its best pitcher back sooner than expected. If it does not, the Tigers will spend the next few months waiting on the one arm they can least afford to lose.
