Paul Skenes has gone from electric must-watch ace to a pitcher suddenly surrounded by questions, and the latest rough outing only poured gas on the fire. The Pirates right-hander was hit hard again Friday night, and the biggest alarm bell is not just the runs piling up, but the dip in the heat that used to define him.
August is here, and the mood around Skenes has shifted fast. He allowed five runs on seven hits in a loss to the Reds, which makes it back-to-back starts with five runs surrendered, and it closed out a month that was far messier than anyone expected from one of baseball’s brightest young arms.
The numbers tell the story in a way that stings. Through 23 starts in 2026, Skenes has already allowed 54 earned runs, after giving up just 41 all of last season. His ERA has climbed to 3.90, a sharp jump from the kind of dominance that had people talking about him like a problem hitters simply could not solve.
That’s what makes this stretch so hard to ignore. Skenes had three solid outings in the middle of the month and went 3-0 in that run, so it’s not as if every trip to the mound has been a disaster. Still, the bad starts have been loud enough to drown out the good, and the overall feel is that something is not lining up the way it used to.
The biggest concern is the fastball. Skenes has not topped 98 MPH in his last four starts, and he has done it just 95 times this season after reaching that mark nearly 900 times in 2024. That kind of drop jumps off the page because his velocity was one of the main reasons he looked so overwhelming in the first place.
This is the part that really gets fans leaning in. When a pitcher who built his reputation on explosive stuff suddenly starts living in a different gear, everybody notices, and everybody starts asking why. Maybe it is strategy, maybe it is workload management, maybe it is something else entirely, but the radar gun is telling a very different story than it did a year ago.
Skenes has said the lower velocity was intentional, which at least gives one explanation for the missing heat. He told DK Pittsburgh Sports, “It’s been by design,” and added, “It’s nothing I’ve been worried about.”
That answer might calm some people down, but it does not erase what has happened on the field. He was knocked around in a way that has not been typical for him, and the back-to-back five-run outings were the first of his career. For a pitcher who arrived with ace expectations and little patience for sloppy results, that is a rough look.
The frustration around Pittsburgh is easy to feel because the gap between last year’s version of Skenes and the current one is so dramatic. In 2024, he was pumping high-octane fastballs and making hitters look overmatched. Now, opposing lineups are seeing a different picture, and the margin for error seems a lot thinner.
Some of this may still be part of the learning curve that comes with being a young star carrying a huge workload. Pitchers do not stay on a straight line forever, and even special arms can hit stretches where the command slips, the velo dips, or the results wobble. But when all three start showing up at once, the concern grows quickly.
That’s why the reaction around Skenes has gotten so sharp so fast. A season that once looked like another launch into ace status has turned into a debate about whether this is a temporary dip, a strategic move, or a warning sign that something is off beneath the surface. And with every start like Friday’s, the noise only gets louder.
