Paul Skenes has gone from ace to concern in a hurry, and the Pirates are staring at an uncomfortable decision.
The 24-year-old right-hander, coming off an NL Cy Young win in his first full MLB season last year, was dominant for the first two-plus months of 2026. Since then, though, the summer has turned rough. His stuff has backed up, his mechanics have looked off, and the results have followed suit.
The biggest red flag has been the velocity. Skenes’s four-seam fastball is averaging 96.8 mph this season, down from 98.1 mph last year and 98.8 mph in his rookie campaign.
His Aug. 11 start against the Marlins made the dip even harder to ignore: the fastball averaged 95.8 mph, the lowest mark of his career in any game. He threw only 65 pitches before being lifted after five innings.
That outing fit the broader picture. As SI’s Tom Verducci wrote, “Skenes is not hurt.
He simply looks exhausted. The mechanical tweaks and the burden of not pitching well as Pittsburgh fell out of the race have worn him down.
He needs a break,” wrote Verducci.
Pittsburgh tried to buy him some time. His scheduled Sunday start was pushed back to Wednesday, giving him three extra days of rest.
It didn’t solve the problem. Against the Tigers, Skenes lasted just 4 1/3 innings, needed 81 pitches, allowed three earned runs, walked four and struck out five.
That pushed his season ERA to 3.95, nearly two full runs above his previous career high of 1.97 in 2025.
And the slump has been going on for a while. Since his start on June 26, Skenes has reached six innings only twice in 10 outings.
In that stretch, he’s given up three or more runs in six starts, logged only three games with eight or more strikeouts, and posted a 5.82 ERA across 51 innings. He’s also allowed 33 earned runs, issued 23 walks and struck out 64 batters.
The Pirates’ bigger problem is that the team hasn’t given him much reason to push through it. Pittsburgh has dropped 5 1/2 games back in the chase for the final National League wild card spot, and FanGraphs gives them just a 4.8% chance to make the playoffs. They’ve also lost nine of 15 games since the trade deadline and continue to slump after the All-Star break.
At this point, the argument for shutting Skenes down is hard to ignore. If he’s not right, and he clearly hasn’t been for weeks, the Pirates are only making things worse by running him out there. With the postseason slipping away, the smarter move may be to protect their ace now and think about the version of Paul Skenes that could still matter for a team trying to chase its first World Series since 1979.
In Other News...
As Add A Power Bat With One Big Question Still Hanging
The Pirates lost another outfielder off their roster shuffle when the Athletics claimed Johnathan Rodrguez on waivers and sent him to Triple-A Las Vegas, a reminder of how much turnover can come with the back half of a season. Oakland cleared room by transferring Tyler Soderstrom to the 60-day injured list after the club announced he will undergo season-ending hip surgery, a move that thins an already shaky depth chart and creates another opening for teams trying to sort out their corners of the roster.
Rodrguez has been designated for assignment multiple times this season, but the appeal has remained obvious: strong minor league production with enough power to keep teams interested. The issue, as it has been for him in the majors, is whether that bat can translate when the competition tightens, and that question is still hanging over him even as the Athletics give him another stop in the system. [Read more 🡒]
Esmerlyn Valdez Is Showing Pittsburgh Something Bigger Than A Hot Streak
Esmerlyn Valdez hit a rough patch in early August, the kind that can follow even a breakout month for a rookie. After winning Julys NL Rookie of the Month award, the Pirates outfielder saw his batting average dip, but he kept finding ways to get on base by working walks and staying patient at the plate. For a young hitter trying to establish himself, that kind of discipline can matter just as much as the box score numbers.
Lately, Valdez has started to turn the corner again with a six-game hitting streak, and the encouraging part for Pittsburgh is not just the results but how he is getting them. His contact rate has ticked up, and his plate discipline has looked sharper, which gives the Pirates something more interesting than a brief hot streak. If this is a sign of a more complete approach settling in, Valdez may be showing them a lot more than a month of timely hitting. [Read more 🡒]