Paul Skenes pitch arsenal: Everything to know about Pirates star's deadly splinker

Paul Skenes has captivated the baseball world with his incredible dominance to start the 2024 season. A year ago, Skenes was still pitching against college hitters as he pitched LSU to the College World Series. Now, a year later, he's been drafted, pitched through the minors and has dominated big league hitters for over 40 innings.

But Skenes isn't the same pitcher that he was a year ago. In fact, he's night and day different. A year ago, he would dominate with his fastball while mixing him an occasion slider and changeup. Now, Skenes throws five different pitches, including the newly patented "splinker."

What is a splinker? Breaking down Paul Skenes' pitch arsenal

To break it down simply, a "splinker" is a mix between a sinker and a split finger (duh).

To throw a split finger, the pitcher's fingers typically split all the way across the ball, which drastically lowers the spin rate and induces a ton of vertical drop.

To throw a sinker, the pitcher will typically keep his/her fingers together, sometimes touching, and the spin rate is usually close to that of a four-seam fastball.

A splinker is almost a sinker, but the fingers are too wide to really call it that. It also drops in velocity more than a typical sinker. A splinker is almost a splitter, but the fingers aren't quite split enough, the spin rate is too high, and the velocity is a bit higher than a typical splitter.

Breaking down Paul Skenes' pitch arsenal: Four-Seam Fastball

Paul Skenes is known for his four-seam fastball. He was drafted first overall and flew up the minor leagues because of his fastball.

The pitch routinely sits over 100 MPH, making his in the 99th percentile for fastball velocity in the entire league, relievers included. He rarely gets hit hard on his fastball, allowing just four extra base hits on 269 fastballs this season.

Skenes throws this pitch over 40% of the time and has dominated the best hitters in the game with it. His mix of velocity and command with the pitch makes it one of the best (if not the best) fastball in the game.

Breaking down Paul Skenes' pitch arsenal: Splinker

When there's a player that throws 100+ MPH as routinely as Skenes does, it would be ridiculous to say that his fastball isn't his best pitch. But Skenes best pitch isn't his 101 MPH fastball. It's his splinker and it's not really close.

Skenes is allowing a .125 batting average and a .167 slugging percentage on the pitch, per Baseball Savant. The spin rate sits in the 1700's, the perfect middle ground between a traditional splitter and a traditional splinker.

He uses it evenly against righties and lefties and induces a Whiff% of 36% on the pitch. Not to mention, he commands it exceptionally well, rarely missing up in the zone with it. It's not just Skenes best pitch, but it's one of the best pitches in baseball.

Breaking down Paul Skenes' pitch arsenal: Slider

Skenes throws a traditional sweeping slider that he uses almost exclusively to right handed hitters. His slider has gotten him into a bit of trouble this year, where right handed hitters are 4 for 13 with three home runs on the pitch this season. Two of the three home runs have come on the first pitch of the at bat, meaning Skenes got ambushed by a hitter that guessed slider and guessed right.

Obviously, there's room to improve with the pitch, but is Skenes can begin to save the slider for later in the at bat, when a hitter can't afford to guess, he could see a bit more dominance with it.

Breaking down Paul Skenes' pitch arsenal: Curveball

Skenes' curveball is a pitch that he uses just 8% of the time, but he's shown a bit more willingness to use it recently. Skenes, like many pitchers, typically uses his slider against righties and his curveball against lefties.

His curveball has the highest spin rate among all his pitches, averaging just over 2600 RPM.

Breaking down Paul Skenes' pitch arsenal: Changeup

Skenes' changeup is almost exclusively thrown against lefties, having thrown just one against a righty this year. His changeup isn't going to be the dominant pitch that his splinker or fastball are, but it's just another wrinkle in his game that hitters need to be wary of.

He throws it less than 5% of the time, but given the command he showed on the pitch in college, it's hard to imagine that he ever scraps the pitch completely.