DETROIT — Tarik Skubal took a seat at the front of the Comerica Park interview room and cracked a toothy grin.“Bet you guys didn’t expect to see me here,” he said.Indeed, Skubal’s return to Detroit on Monday was a surprise and yet another indicator that his recovery from surgery is going as well as possible.Skubal threw a full bullpen session, using all his pitches and resuming a typical five-day routine. The session marked the second time Skubal has thrown off the mound since surgery to remove a loose body from his left elbow only 12 days ago. His time off the mound was a touch-and-feel session. Monday was the real deal.“Everything was very normal,” Skubal said. “I think that’s what the goal is, to get back to normal as fast as possible and get in a five-day rotation and get your body back in shape to be back in the big leagues.”After his session, Skubal talked with reporters and recounted the moment he first learned of the NanoNeedle 2.0, the less invasive surgical tool that is expediting his recovery. If Skubal had undergone a traditional arthroscopy, he likely would have missed 2-3 months.“I think the first thing they said was, ‘The recovery will be faster,’” Skubal said. “I think I stopped listening after that. It’s like, ‘All right, I’m good with it if you’re good with it.’ You trust the doctors. (Dr. Neal) ElAttrache is the best surgeon in the world. … If he’s comfortable with it, I don’t see why I wouldn’t be comfortable with it.”Skubal is the first known MLB pitcher to have the NanoNeedle used, a tool smaller than a traditional arthroscope to penetrate the elbow and locate loose bodies. The smaller instrument causes less damage to tissue, resulting in less swelling and inflammation after surgery. For pitchers, that means a much shorter time without throwing.In the days after the surgery, agent Scott Boras started touting the instrument as the “Skubal Scope.”“(ElAttrache) is the one who said it, and Boras ran with it,” Skubal said, laughing. “Let’s clear the room there. I saw a lot of stuff about that. That was not our camp.”