The Pittsburgh Pirates had this whole thing mapped out: a rock-solid starting rotation, juiced up by an elite offense, was gonna carry ’em straight to the postseason, shaky bullpen or not. But here we are, and that rotation is wobbling like crazy. The biggest, most glaring issue? Their Cy Young ace, Paul Skenes, just isn’t the same guy we’ve watched dominate. There’s some serious, uncomfortable chatter about his production, and it’s got everyone in Pittsburgh on edge.
Skenes’ Numbers Are Screaming For Help
MLB.com’s Aiden Stepansky dropped the truth bomb with his question: “Does Paul Skenes have a late-season turnaround in store?” Man, when you gotta ask that about your *ace*, especially a Cy Young winner, you know the wheels are coming off. This isn’t the Skenes we’ve seen. He’s pitching to a 3.95 ERA this year, a shocking contrast after kicking off his career with two seasons boasting a sub-2.00 ERA. That’s not just a bump, that’s a whole new mountain he’s climbing.
And it’s not just the ERA. His velocity is noticeably down. The Pirates, acutely aware of the problem, even decided to push back his latest start from Sunday to Wednesday, hoping a few extra days of rest would magically fix things. Did it work? Nah. In a truly disappointing outing, Skenes still coughed up three runs in only 4.1 innings, and walked four batters. That’s the *third time* in his last four starts he’s handed out free passes like candy. Something is clearly off with our guy.
The Data Doesn’t Lie: What’s Really Going On?
Digging deeper, that diminished fastball velocity is the smoking gun. It’s a huge reason why he’s struggling so much more this season. Then there are the walks: Skenes has already racked up 41 walks this year. Get this: that’s just one shy of his *entire mark* from last year, even though he’s pitched nearly 50 *fewer* innings! Seriously, that’s wild. His 7.2 walk percentage and 2.4 home run percentage are both the highest marks of his three-year career. The same goes for the batters he’s facing.
Opposing hitters are having a field day, sporting a .299/.294/.374 slash line with a .668 OPS against him. Again, those are all the highest he’s allowed in his career. It’s not a slump, it’s a trend, and it screams that Skenes is just not 100% right now, or something else is seriously amiss.
This season is on the line, folks. The Pirates are currently 5.5 games back in the NL Wild Card hunt and a staggering 16 games back in the NL Central. Their margin for error? Basically non-existent. Skenes *has* to turn it around if they want any shot at the postseason. But here’s the absolute killer: pushing him for that return to form right now, especially with those lower pitch velocities, could seriously risk his future health.
That’s the incredibly uncomfortable question the Pirates are facing as they close out the 2026 season. They *need* to push for the postseason, but they absolutely cannot risk running their ace into the ground. It’s a tricky tightrope walk, and frankly, I don’t envy the decisions they’ve got coming up. What a mess for an otherwise promising season.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by The Sporting News.
Leave a Reply