The Pittsburgh Pirates are as competitive as they’ve ever been during the Paul Skenes era, yet that’s surprisingly been driven more by the offense than by Skenes and the pitching staff.
After a typically dominant start to the season, Skenes has struggled — by his standards — of late, allowing two or more runs in 10 of his last 11 starts while going 2-5 in the process.
Skenes has also notably seen his velocity dip at times during that stretch, and during All-Star media availability he was asked about that recent trend. The superstar pitcher, however, isn’t worried at all, pushing back on those questioning his fastball.
“I think it’s funny that they only ask when I don’t have a good outing. It’s funny. In those outings, I don’t think I really got damaged on my four-seamer. I don’t think velocity is something that I need to pitch well. I think it’s probably the first time in my career that the velo has kinda dipped. It’s not something that I’m stressed over at all. I’m healthy. I’m feeling good and still pitching at a high level,”
The 24-year-old Skenes has gone 8-8 through 20 starts this season, posting a 3.57 ERA with 130 strikeouts and just 24 walks.
It’s certainly been strange to see Skenes go through such a rough patch after dominating like very few ever have during the first 64 starts of his MLB career. For that reason, many have pointed to a potential injury as the cause of his dip in form and velocity, though Skenes insists there are no issues. In the end, that’s encouraging news for Pittsburgh.
His last two starts have looked more like the Skenes we’re used to seeing, so if he can continue that down the stretch alongside what is statistically best offense in baseball, there’s a very good chance the Pirates could return to the playoffs for the first time since 2015.
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