Paul Skenes
21-Year-Old
2024 Stats
W-L
1-0
ERA
2.70
WHIP
0.90
K
18
SV
0
Rest-of-Season Projections
2024 Fantasy Outlook
Skenes, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 draft, is such a good pitching prospect that the most interesting thing to discuss with him is when he will make his big-league debut. He tallied 122.2 innings for LSU and 6.2 innings across stops at rookie ball, Single-A and Double-A last season (129.1 total innings), so there shouldn't be any notable workload restrictions in his age-22 season beyond the normal care teams show their most prized young arms. Additionally, if Skenes were to spend a full year in the majors and win rookie of the year, the Pirates would be rewarded with a Prospect Promotion Incentive draft pick at the end of the first round in 2025. The 6-foot-6 righty boasts two potential 80-grade pitches in his fastball (sits 99-100 mph, touches 103) and mid-80s slider. He has started throwing his upper-80s changeup more, and that looks like a potential third elite offering. The only things that could derail an ascent to ace status in a few years are injuries and/or unforeseen command issues. Skenes is generally seen as the best college pitching prospect since Stephen Strasburg, and Strasburg made 11 starts in the upper-levels of the minors before making his big-league debut. That could be Skenes' path as well, but there are different incentives in place now, so he will be appointment viewing in spring training games for as long as he remains in big-league camp. Read Past Outlooks
Dominant in first MLB win
Skenes (1-0) earned the win over the Cubs on Friday, issuing just one walk while striking out 11 over six hitless, scoreless innings.
ANALYSIS
Skenes was lights out in his second big-league start -- he struck out the first seven batters he faced while holding the Cubs without a baserunner until Michael Busch's one-out walk in the fifth inning. Skenes has been as advertised to start his career, averaging 99.3 MPH with his fastball Friday and generating a 44 percent whiff rate with the pitch. The 21-year-old right-hander has allowed three runs through his first 10 innings while striking out 18. Skenes will look to keep rolling in his next outing, which tentatively lines up as a home matchup with the Giants.
Skenes was lights out in his second big-league start -- he struck out the first seven batters he faced while holding the Cubs without a baserunner until Michael Busch's one-out walk in the fifth inning. Skenes has been as advertised to start his career, averaging 99.3 MPH with his fastball Friday and generating a 44 percent whiff rate with the pitch. The 21-year-old right-hander has allowed three runs through his first 10 innings while striking out 18. Skenes will look to keep rolling in his next outing, which tentatively lines up as a home matchup with the Giants.
Pitching Stats
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2024
Minor League Game Log
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Pitching Appearances Breakdown
Average Pitch Count
92
Last 10 Games
92
Last 5 Games
92
How many pitches does Paul Skenes generally throw?
1-10
11-20
21-30
31-40
41-50
51-60
61-70
71-80
81-90
91-100
101-110
111-120
121+
What part of the game does Paul Skenes generally pitch?
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
6th
7th
8th
9th
Extra
% Games Reaching Innings Threshold
% Games By Number of Innings Pitched
Left/Right Pitching Splits
Since 2022
-33%
BAA vs LHP
2024
-33%
BAA vs LHP
BAA | K | BB | H | HR | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Since 2022vs Left | .143 | 12 | 3 | 3 | 0 | |||
Since 2022vs Right | .214 | 6 | 0 | 3 | 1 | |||
2024vs Left | .143 | 12 | 3 | 3 | 0 | |||
2024vs Right | .214 | 6 | 0 | 3 | 1 | |||
2023vs Left | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
2023vs Right | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
2022vs Left | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
2022vs Right | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
More Splits→ | View More Split Stats |
Home/Away Pitching Splits
Since 2022
-100%
ERA on Road
2024
-100%
ERA on Road
ERA | WHIP | IP | K/9 | BB/9 | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Since 2022Home | 6.75 | 2.00 | 4.0 | 15.8 | 4.5 | ||||
Since 2022Away | 0.00 | 0.17 | 6.0 | 16.5 | 1.5 | ||||
2024Home | 6.75 | 2.00 | 4.0 | 15.8 | 4.5 | ||||
2024Away | 0.00 | 0.17 | 6.0 | 16.5 | 1.5 | ||||
2023Home | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
2023Away | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
2022Home | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
2022Away | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
More Splits→ | View More Split Stats |
Stat Review
How does Paul Skenes compare to other starting pitchers?
This section compares his stats with all starting pitcher seasons from the previous three seasons (minimum 120 innings)*. The bar represents the player's percentile rank. For example, if the bar is halfway across, then the player falls into the 50th percentile for that stat and it would be considered average.
* Exit Velocity, Barrels/BBE %, Balls Hit 95+ MPH %, and Spin Rate are benchmarked against 2019 data (min 120 IP). See here for more exit velocity/barrels stats plus an explanation of current limitations with that data set.
* Exit Velocity, Barrels/BBE %, Balls Hit 95+ MPH %, and Spin Rate are benchmarked against 2019 data (min 120 IP). See here for more exit velocity/barrels stats plus an explanation of current limitations with that data set.
K/BB
6.00K/9
16.2BB/9
2.7HR/9
0.9Fastball
99.6 mphERA
2.70WHIP
0.90BABIP
.329GB/FB
2.75Left On Base
78.9%Exit Velocity
83.8 mphBarrels/BBE
8.3%Spin Rate
2200 rpmBalls Hit 95+ MPH
25.0%Swinging Strike
19.0%Prospect Rankings History
Advanced Pitching Stats
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Defensive Stats
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Stats Vs Today's Lineup
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Recent RotoWire Articles Featuring Paul Skenes See More
Chris Sale of the Atlanta Braves heads a great group of two-start pitchers in Todd Zola's Weekly Pitcher Rankings.
Brad Johnson highlights young pitchers who have impressed him up to this point in the season, starting with Paul Skenes who recently made his highly anticipated debut.
Jesse Siegel reviews one of the most anticipated big-league debuts while bringing up a few players who could soon do the same.
Erik Siegrist looks over the free-agent options in the AL as Taj Bradley provides a potentially massive boost to the Rays' rotation and to fantasy staffs.
Latest Fantasy Rumors
Just one more minor-league start?
Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette expects Skenes to make one more start with Triple-A Indianapolis before potentially joining the Pittsburgh rotation May 10 against the Cubs.
ANALYSIS
Skenes made his sixth start of the season Tuesday for Indianapolis, and he delivered another impressive performance with seven strikeouts over a season-high six scoreless innings. The 2023 first overall pick stretched out to 75 pitches, which is his highest count as a professional. Skenes has given up just one run over 23 innings during his time at Triple-A, as he's clearly proven himself ready for MLB competition. It's now just a waiting game before the Pirates promote him.
Skenes made his sixth start of the season Tuesday for Indianapolis, and he delivered another impressive performance with seven strikeouts over a season-high six scoreless innings. The 2023 first overall pick stretched out to 75 pitches, which is his highest count as a professional. Skenes has given up just one run over 23 innings during his time at Triple-A, as he's clearly proven himself ready for MLB competition. It's now just a waiting game before the Pirates promote him.
More Fantasy News
Fans seven in MLB debut
Skenes came away with a no-decision in Saturday's 10-9 win over the Cubs, giving up three runs on six hits and two walks over four-plus innings. He struck out seven.
ANALYSIS
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Set for big-league debut
Skenes' contract was purchased from Triple-A Indianapolis ahead of his big-league debut Saturday against the Cubs.
ANALYSIS
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Making MLB debut Saturday
The Pirates announced that Skenes will be promoted from Triple-A Indianapolis to start Saturday against the Cubs at PNC Park.
ANALYSIS
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Next outing will be at Triple-A
Pirates manager Derek Shelton said Monday that Skenes is scheduled to make another start with Triple-A Indianapolis this week, Alex Stumpf of MLB.com reports.
ANALYSIS
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Making another Triple-A start
Skenes' next start will come Sunday at Triple-A Indianapolis against Buffalo.
ANALYSIS
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