Paul Skenes Wants Better From Pirates
In this story:
PITTSBURGH — Starting pitcher Paul Skenes has had an incredible 2025 season, but the Pittsburgh Pirates fell far below expectations
The Pirates stand 68-89 overall with five games remaining, 26.5 games back of the Milwaukee Brewers in first place in the National League Central Division, 13.0 games back from the final wild card spot and possess the fourth worst record in the MLB.
This campaign continues years of failure for the franchise, both on-and-off the field, including now seven straight losing seasons and 10 consecutive seasons outside of the playoffs.
The Pirates also fired manager Derek Shelton after a 12-26 start on May 8, which doomed the team to their fifth season in the past six where they finished at the bottom of the division standings.
Skenes has had one of the best season for a pitcher in Pirates history and is trending towards his first NL Cy Young Award.
He has a 10-10 record over 31 starts, a 2.03 ERA over 181.2 innings pitched, 209 strikeouts to 42 walks, a .199 opposing batting average and a 0.96 WHIP.
Skenes ranks amongst the best pitchers in baseball, with the lowest ERA, the fourth most strikeouts, fourth lowest WHIP, seventh lowest opposing batting average and the 14th most innings pitched.
The season has been tough for Skenes, as he's done everything he's needed to individually, but hasn't gotten the same from his teammates.
He wants everyone in the organization, especially himself and the players on the team, to learn from this season heading into 2026, so that it wasn't a complete failure.
“Regardless of how the team is doing, we all have to show up and do our work," Skenes said. "We have to show up to play and win every game. So that hasn’t changed from last year to this year, from two years ago to this year. I’ve learned a lot about my body and preparing and game planning, stuff like that, which has helped me, but it’s a trap that you can fall into if you let yourself fall into it. I think myself and a lot of guys in this room have done a good job of not letting that happen.
"This is a wasted year if we don’t learn what we need to do and we don’t know why we didn’t go out there and do what we wanted to do. If those things happen, then it’s a wasted year, in my opinion. I don’t think that’s happening. I think — individually, as a team and as an organization — we know the adjustments we need to make. Now we just gotta do them.”
Skenes is a part of a strong pitching staff, which includes veteran Mitch Keller, rookies in Braxton Ashcraft, Mike Burrows and Bubba Chandler and relievers in Justin Lawrence, Isaac Mattson, Carmen Mlodzinski, Dauri Moreta and Dennis Santana.
It also features Johan Oviedo, who returned after missing all of 2024 with Tommy John surgery and a lat injury that kept him out until August, plus left-handed pitcher Hunter Barco, who is a top prospect and just joined the team.
Jared Jones, who underwent internal brace surgery, missed all of 2025, but will return in 2026.
The Pirates have the fifth lowest WHIP (1.18) sixth least runs allowed (632), the seventh lowest ERA (3.81), the seventh least earned runs allowed (587) and rank tied for the eighth lowest opposing batting average (.236).
Where the Pirates have struggled massively is at the plate, as they rank towards the bottom of most offensive metrics.
The Pirates have both the lowest slugging percentage (.350) and OPS (.655), the third lowest batting average (.231) and the sixth lowest on-base percentage (.305).
They also have the least runs scored (565), home runs (113) and RBIs (544), the third least hits (1,203) and the eighth most strikeouts (1,371).
Skenes came to the Pirates after a successful first two seasons with Air Force, where they won the Mountain West Conference and made the NCAA Tournament in 2022, then won the College World Series with LSU in 2023, before the Pirates took him first overall in the ensuing MLB Draft.
One of the most important things for Skenes in building a winning culture is being willing to do anything to achieve your goals and that he hopes his teammates and the organization understand that mindset, heading into a crucial 2026 season.
"I'm not sure. I definitely have some ideas," Skenes said. "Winning, a lot of it comes down to what you're willing to give up, what you're willing to sacrifice. I think, as a group, it's going to take more sacrifices from us. I say that broadly, but I think that's a big piece. There's guys that didn't play as well as they had hoped this year. Didn't play as well as they expected to.
"Like I said, we knew that coming into this year too. There were guys last year that didn't play as well. Not necessarily the same guys as this year, but there's room to get better in this locker room. We just need to do it. I'm sure we'll get some pieces and do all that, but my mind right now is what can we do within the locker room to get better, now and for next year, but there's urgency to it, and we need to understand that and act on it."
Dominic writes for Pittsburgh Pirates On SI, Pittsburgh Panthers Pn SI and also, Pittsburgh Steelers On SI. A Pittsburgh native, Dominic grew up watching Pittsburgh Sports and wrote for The Pitt News as an undergraduate at the University of Pittsburgh, covering Pitt Athletics. He would write for Pittsburgh Sports Now after college and has years of experience covering sports across Pittsburgh.