Those who prefer to look on the bright side might call it a positive that it took until mid-August for Paul Skenes and the Pittsburgh Pirates to officially wave the flag on their 2026 season. Granted, the Pirates woke up on Sunday sitting 16 ½ games back in the NL Central and 6 ½ games out of a Wild Card spot. The Pirates have lost 18 of 28 in the second half and, at this point, are fighting just to avoid a non-losing season.
And amid calls that the Pirates should consider ending Skenes’ season early, it turns out that Don Kelly might be slightly in agreement. Although Skenes was supposed to start against the Red Sox on Sunday, he’ll instead pitch Wednesday against the Tigers.
What the Pirates said about pushing Paul Skenes start back
Kelly said that the decision was not made for health reasons. Skenes owns a 3.88 ERA in 25 starts and hasn’t looked anything like the phenom who carved through opposing lineups in his first two seasons.
“Everybody’s dealing with stuff this year, but he’s given us no indication that it’s injury-related,” Kelly told reporters, including FanSided’s John Perrotto.
Skenes’ 2026 season goes far beyond career-worsts in ERA and walk rate. His velocity is markedly down, and opponents are hitting .228 with a .666 OPS against him. For as well and good as that sounds, Skenes held hitters to a .198 average and .555 OPS over his first 320 ⅔ innings.
Without speculating too much about Skenes’ long-term future, there is no denying that his disappointing season should raise significant red flags. He’s a workhorse who spent much of his first two seasons pitching in the high 90s, and his arsenal typically made him a tough-luck loser on mediocre Pirates teams.
Paul Skenes decline in velocity is part of a league-wide trend
Major League Baseball still does not understand that a heavy reliance on pitches that fast rarely turns out well, especially not for starting pitchers. Aroldis Chapman and Mason Miller have gotten away with it because they’re closers. Brewers ace Jacob Misiorowski is a walking time bomb because he’s consistently topping 100 mph.
No one is asking Skenes, Misiorowski, or other starters to all turn into Chien-Ming Wang, the former Yankees starter who grew into a rotation mainstay because of a “bowling ball” sinker. That’s likely also not what the league wants, because velocity sells, even more so in the social media era.
However, the Pirates should be thinking about life beyond 2026. Skenes is in his third year of team control and has no leverage if management pulls the plug on his season. Even a prolonged winning streak straight out of the Red Sox’s book won’t be enough to save the Pirates’ playoff hopes.
There’s still time to at least try to save Skenes’ arm, and the Pirates won’t deserve an ounce of sympathy if they refuse to acknowledge reality.
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