Pirates' Paul Skenes Leaves MLB Legends Stunned
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PITTSBURGH — Pittsburgh Pirates star pitcher Paul Skenes is heading into his third major league season, but even the game's best are awestruck by his performances.
Rob Friedman, who goes by Pitching Ninja on Twitter, showed a four-pitch overlay from Skenes, throwing a 100 mph four-seam fastball, a 95 mph "splinker", an 85 mph sweeper and a 88 mph changeup.
Paul Skenes, 100mph Fastball, 95mph Splinker, 85mph Sweeper & 88mph Changeup, 4 Pitch Overlay 😳 pic.twitter.com/o12fNK3STE
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) February 17, 2026
Hall of Fame pitcher CC Sabathia was wowed by how much movement Skenes got on his pitches, especially since they all come out around the same area, making them incredibly difficult for batters to get anything on it.
"Most people don’t understand how hard this is 🔥🔥," Sabathia wrote on Twitter.
Fellow all-time great pitcher Roger Clemens had less to say about Skenes, but kept it short with a 😮💨 emoji, as Skenes' pitches already do most of the talking.
Skenes impressing pitchers like Sabathia, a six-time All-Star and 2007 American League Cy Young Award winner, plus Clemens, an 11-time All-Star and seven-time Cy Young Award winner, is no easy feat and shows just how strong of an ace he already is at 23 years old.
An Overview of Paul Skenes' Pitch Mix
Skenes has a vast pitch mix, with seven different choices he can go with against any batter he faces.
His four-seam fastball is the most used (38.9%), then the sweeper (15.8%), then a split-finger fastball (13.5%), a changeup (10.9%), a sinker (10.4%), a slider (5.6%) and then finally the curveball (4.8%).
Statcast gives his four-seam fastball, which he averages around 98.2 mph, a +20 run value, making it the sixth most valuable fastball and eighth most valuable pitch in all of baseball in 2025.
His changeup had a +9 run value, would've tied for the fifth best in baseball, had he qualified, as hitters posted a .103 batting average against it.
The "splinker" that Skenes throws is a combination of the speed of a split-finger fastball and the movement of a sinker.
The sweeper was one of Skenes' best pitches, posting a run value of +9 according to Statcast, the third best for a pitcher throwing a sweeper in 2025.
He also got a .150 batting average on his sweeper, a 32.9% whiff rate, struck out 30.1% of batters on the pitch and 20.7% put away rate.
There was a report that Skenes was adding a pitch to his arsenal, a slower version of his sweeper, but he shut that down at the beginning of Spring Training.
Remembering Skenes' 2025 Season
It was an incredible season for Skenes, as he won the 2025 National League Cy Young Award, just the third Pirates pitcher to do so.
Skenes had just a 10-10 record in 32 starts with the Pirates in 2025, but a 1.97 ERA over 187.2 innings pitched, 216 strikeouts to 42 walks, a .199 batting average allowed (BAA) and a 0.95 WHIP, along with a 10.36 K/9, a 2.01 BB/9 and a 5.14 K/BB.
He ranked amongst the best pitchers in MLB, with the lowest ERA, tied for the fourth most strikeouts, the fourth lowest WHIP, the sixth lowest batting average and the 10th most innings pitched, plus the fifth best K/BB, seventh best K/9 and ninth best BB/9.
His play made him the starting pitcher for the NL in the All-Star Game, becoming the first pitcher to start consecutive All-Star games in the first two seasons in the MLB.
He was the first NL pitcher with a sub-2.00 ERA and 200+ strikeouts since right-hander Jacob DeGrom did it with the New York Mets in 2018. He was the first MLB pitcher to finish with a sub-2.00 ERA in a season since right-hander Justin Verlander did so with the Houston Astros in 2022.
Skenes became the first pitcher in MLB history to finish with 200+ strikeouts and a sub-2.00 ERA and still not have a winning record, since ERA became a stat in 1913.
He was the first qualified pitcher to post a sub-2.00 ERA in a season at 23 years or younger, since right-hander Dwight Gooden did so at age 20 with the Mets in 1985.
Skenes also had a great 2024 season, winning NL Rookie of the Year, and his 1.96 ERA over his first 55 starts is the lowest ever.
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.