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Pirates reporter reveals 1 specific Paul Skenes ‘concerning’ red flag amid underperformance
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- Pirates reporter reveals 1 specific Paul Skenes ‘concerning’ red flag amid underperformance
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The Pittsburgh Pirates have reason to study Paul Skenes after his latest difficult start raised questions about the reigning NL Cy Young winner's velocity and mechanics.
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Skenes allowed a career-high seven earned runs over four innings Wednesday against the Philadelphia Phillies , extending the roughest stretch of his young career. The Pirates ace, once known for overpowering hitters with upper-90s and triple-digit fastballs, has gone nearly two months without a victory.
Pirates reporter Alex Stumpf pointed to one trend he believes Pittsburgh should monitor in an analysis published Thursday on his Book-Rule Bucs Substack.
"The drop in velocity is concerning. He claims that it's 'been by design' that he's not throwing 100 mph anymore, and I can buy that to a certain extent. It can't be by design that his fastball velocity has dropped every month this season."
Stumpf noted Skenes' four-seam fastball averaged 96.3 mph Wednesday, tying the lowest average velocity of his career. He also wrote that Skenes has averaged less than 98 mph in all starts this season after routinely sitting between 98 and 99 mph in previous campaigns.
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Stumpf then pointed to a possible mechanical factor behind the change:
"The safe guess is something is off mechanically. I can't say what it is for sure. His arm angle has risen, and we've seen Bubba Chandler start to pitch better once he got back to his normal arm slot. The difference is Chandler's arm slot rose over 10 degrees. Skenes' is up only a couple degrees, so it could still be within the normal variance pitchers usually fluctuate between. This is probably more a side effect than it is the root cause:"
For the Pirates, then, the priority is finding answers without overreacting. Still, whether the issue proves mechanical, physical, or part of a longer adjustment, Pittsburgh needs its franchise ace trending back toward dominance as July unfolds.
Related: Phillies hand Paul Skenes worst start his Pirates career
