We’ve been super ciritical of Paul Skenes lately, and rightfuly so. The Pittsburgh Pirates ace had been going through the worst stretch of his career. But we post when we need to ask: What’s wrong with Paul Skenes? So it only seems right to post when he bounces back a little. And he indeed did.
Skenes pitched six scoreless innings for the Buccos, gave up zero runs on three hits while striking out four. Oh, and his velocity was up too. Almost a half mph up on his fastball. And the nasty 99 mph sinker made an appearance as well.
Paul Skenes, Vicious 99mph Sinker. 😤 pic.twitter.com/MaUFUwpg4e
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) August 26, 2026The Bucs then got a solo homer from Oneil Cruz off of stud reliever Mason Miller and then Mason Montgomery shut things down for the Bucs for his sixth save of the season. Greg Soto got the win, so while Skenes walked away with a no-decision for his performance, the team got the victory, and Skenes looked a little bit like Skenes again. He lowered his ERA on the season to 3.79, so while it’s still not quite what we’re used to, he’s no longer creeeping up on the 4s.
According to Tom Verducci of SI, Skenes had made a noticeable change to his approach:
“I have detailed how the two-month slump of Paul Skenes coincided with him changing his stride direction to be less crossfire and more direct to the plate. The change reduced the offset of his delivery (ball release position relative to mid-rubber) by five to eight inches, a major difference for a pitcher who relies more on horizontal attack angle than vertical attack angle.“
And now Skenes is trying to change again after that didn’t work.
“Skenes made yet another major mechanical adjustment. He returned to his usual crossfire delivery—in a big way. Skenes moved his release point 9 ½ inches more offset (toward third base) from where it was only two starts ago. What had been the least offset horizontal release points of his career suddenly became the second greatest offset release of his career.“
And with Skenes velocity going back up a little, he might start to have more success. Without that velocity, it makes Skenes just an average pitcher. It’s what separates good from great. More from Verducci:
“The biggest problem for Skenes is that he has lost his top-line velocity. The ball simply is not exploding out of his hand the way it did in 2024 and ’25. That’s a major problem because Skenes does not have the kind of elite fastball pitch properties to pitch conventionally with it. His fastball has below average induced vertical break and below average spin. To dominate he needs 1) deception (the extreme horizontal attack angle) and 2) elite velocity.
What has become clear in these past few months is that Skenes has whipsawed through mechanical changes in failed attempts to get his power back.“
So what do you guys think after watching Skenes all summer? Have you noticed the changes? Is it simply a matter of approach and velocity like Verducci claims, or has something else been going on here?
Tell us your thoughts in the comments. And oh, a nice welcome back to Paul Skenes. We missed ya.
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