Paul Skenes’ latest rough outing has put the Pirates back in the same uncomfortable spot: searching for answers that keep coming up empty.
Pittsburgh gave the right-hander extra rest before his start on August 19, but it didn’t change much. Skenes still allowed four walks and three earned runs in only 4 1/3 innings, and the performance only fueled the growing conversation about whether the Pirates should shut him down for the rest of the season.
That decision, if it comes, is one thing. The bigger question is what’s actually going wrong. Skenes can’t fix the problem until someone identifies it, and former three-time All-Star Dan Plesac believes the issue is mechanical.
On MLB Network, Plesac pointed to a delivery that has gotten too rotational.
"He gets more rotational this way as opposed to up and down. What happens, and why he's struggling with the arm side, if you rotate and your hip and your shoulder start to come this way, the arm starts to drag behind," Plesac explained. "He's throwing away from where he's going."
That’s the heart of the concern: Skenes may be opening up too much on the front side, which can lead to the arm trailing behind the body instead of working cleanly through the pitch. When that happens, command can slip and velocity can suffer because the momentum isn’t lined up the way it should be.
Plesac isn’t the first person to suggest that a mechanical issue is behind the struggles. Earlier this month, Rob Friedman, better known as The Pitching Ninja, made a similar point while looking at Skenes’ routine and delivery. Friedman said Skenes works on twisting his body and using water bags in pregame work to stay loose and rotate, but suggested he may be doing too much and getting out of sync.
Friedman also noted that the pitches getting hit hardest during this stretch have been Skenes’ changeup and splinker, two offerings that naturally move to the arm side. In his view, they may be flattening out and not dropping or fading the way they should.
MLB.com’s Travis Sawchick also dug into the issue and spoke with experts at Driveline, who said Skenes was stepping across his body earlier in the season and cutting off his own momentum.
That context matters because Skenes wasn’t bad early on. Over the first two months of the season, he put up a 2.89 ERA. That was far better than what he’s done during this recent slide, though it was still well above his 1.96 career ERA entering 2026.
Taken together, the picture suggests this hasn’t been one isolated problem. Skenes’ mechanics may have been off for most of the year, with the current struggles possibly reflecting an overcorrection from the earlier issue of throwing across his body.
And that’s what makes this so difficult to solve. A pitcher can know something is wrong and still not know how to fix it without making things worse. In Skenes’ case, the Pirates may be better off giving him the time to work through it at his own pace.
In Other News...
Pirates Get Two Encouraging Injury Signs As Endy Faces A Bigger Concern
The Pirates got a pair of encouraging injury updates as the calendar starts to turn, with Ben Cherington saying Konnor Griffin and Ryan OHearn are moving in the right direction. Griffin, dealing with a left ring finger injury, is making progress in rehab and is expected back in early September, while OHearn is working back from a left quad strain and could return around mid-September. For a club that has had to manage depth carefully, even modest good news on the injury front matters.
Endy Rodrguez remains the bigger concern in the group, and Cheringtons update left plenty of uncertainty around his left hip issue. A possible surgery is on the table, and with it comes the real possibility of a season-altering absence for a player the Pirates have been trying to keep in the mix. In a stretch when healthy bodies can change the shape of a roster quickly, Rodrguez is the name that hangs over the rest of the injury report. [Read more 🡒]
Khristian Curtis Just Put Real Pressure On The Pirates Rotation
Khristian Curtis has given the Pirates something they can never have enough of in late summer: a young arm forcing its way into the conversation. Through his first two major league appearances, the right-hander has spun eight scoreless innings while allowing only two hits, a quick start that has turned a low-key call-up into a legitimate rotation storyline as the calendar moves toward September.
Don Kelly already identified Curtis as a candidate for a roster spot when the expanded rosters arrive next month, and the path is clearer with Mitch Keller out for the season. That leaves Pittsburgh looking for innings wherever it can find them, and Curtis is suddenly in position to do more than just fill space. If he keeps this going, the Pirates may have no choice but to keep giving him a real chance to start. [Read more 🡒]
Pirates Are Finally Closing In On A Konnor Griffin Return
Konnor Griffin is finally moving toward a return, and the Pirates have a clearer sense of when they might have him back in the lineup. General manager Ben Cherington said Griffin is progressing well in his rehab from a left ring sagittal band injury, with the outfielder having been sidelined since early July. After a stretch on the shelf, Griffin has recently started swinging again now that his splint has been removed.
The calendar still matters here, because Griffin cannot be activated from the 60-day injured list until September 4. Even so, the expectation is that he could be back in major league games in early September, giving Pittsburgh a late-season boost if his recovery continues on schedule. [Read more 🡒]