The Pirates have been better in 2026 than they’ve been in recent seasons, but there’s a number sitting under the surface that’s hard to ignore: three of their pitchers, including Paul Skenes, are throwing harder last year.
According to Alex Stumpf of Book-Rule Bucs, and as tracked by Baseball Savant, 14 qualified National League pitchers have seen their fastball velocity dip by at least 1 mph from 2025 to 2026. Three of them are Pirates: Carmen Mlodzinski, Mitch Keller and Skenes.
That’s where the concern starts. Mlodzinski’s fastball has gone from 96.0 mph last year to 94.7 mph this season, a drop of 1.3 mph.
Keller has slipped from 93.7 mph to 92.6 mph, a decline of 1.1 mph. And Skenes, who was in Cy Young territory a year ago, is down from 98.1 mph to 97 mph on average.
Skenes is still putting together a strong season, even with the dip. He has a 3.10 ERA and 114 strikeouts in 2026.
That’s the kind of line most pitchers would happily take. But when the fastball loses even a tick, it changes the conversation around a guy who had already been operating at the top of the sport.
The velocity drop doesn’t explain everything for Keller or Skenes, and Mlodzinski has actually pitched better this year than he did a season ago. Even so, seeing three Pirates arms on that kind of list is enough to raise an eyebrow.
If there’s a silver lining, it’s that this is a trend worth watching rather than a finished verdict. If Skenes can get his fastball back up, especially if the Pirates are still in the mix for a postseason spot, a lot of the worry tied to this stat could fade fast.
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