Tarik Skubal and Casey Mize were once pillars of the Tigers' rotation. Drafted together in 2018, they developed together in the minors, debuted together in 2020 and went to the All-Star Game together in 2025. Now they're both gone.
And they could soon clash in the National League playoffs.
Mize has been traded to the Padres for two pitching prospects, headlined by left-hander Kash Mayfield, the No. 2 prospect in San Diego's system, per MLB Pipeline. The deal went through just before Monday's 6 p.m. deadline, per multiple reports.
Mayfield, 21, was the Padres' first-round pick two years ago. He has a 3.54 ERA this season in High-A and a "mid-rotation ceiling" in the majors, per MLB Pipeline.
Valenti calls in to give his thoughts on the Skubal trade pic.twitter.com/mTdbtxHsYE
— 97.1 The Ticket: (@971theticketxyt) August 3, 2026
The other prospect coming to Detroit is 27-year-old Jackson Wolf. The 6'7 lefty has been hit hard this season in Triple-A, with a 7.05 ERA in 24 outings (17 starts). He profiles as back-of-the-rotation depth in the bigs.
The Tigers are also sending Triple-A infielder Gage Workman to San Diego in the deal. Workman had a brief stint in Detroit earlier this season but didn't do enough to stick around.
Mize, the first overall pick in 2018, has a 2.70 ERA in 16 starts this season, but has done two stints on the injured list for recurring groin issues. Like Skubal, he will be a free agent this winter. Rather than risk losing both of them for nothing more than compensatory draft picks, the Tigers cashed them in for prospects while they could.
Skubal went to the Dodgers for a trio of prospects headlined by Double-A outfielder Zyhir Hope.
The Tigers (54-58) entered Monday 2.5 games back in the wild card race but with five teams to jump, and 5.5 games back in the division with three teams to jump.
