Pirates fans are running Paul Skenes out of town one trade deadline ahead of time

Bullet point summary by AI

• Paul Skenes is facing growing criticism after a sharp decline in performance this season.
• Pirates fans and analysts question whether his recent struggles signal a longer-term issue or a temporary slump.
• Pittsburgh’s playoff hopes now hinge on whether Skenes can rediscover his dominant form in the final stretch.

Even before throwing his first pitch two years ago, Paul Skenes did something that few 21st-century players have achieved: He provided Pittsburgh Pirates fans with hope. 

So much for that one. After enduring nonstop talk of the Pirates inevitably trading Skenes to the Yankees or Dodgers, they’re now watching a phenom who has seemingly lost his touch. He’s already allowed more earned runs in 124 ⅔ innings than he did all of last year, when his 1.87 ERA led the league. 

Should Pirates fans realistically be worried about Paul Skenes’ long-term future?

Skenes’ ERA is up to 3.90, and he’s given up five runs in each of his last two starts. Not only has he looked human, but he’s resembled a fourth or fifth starter far more than a defending Cy Young winner. 

Pirates postgame radio host Dan Zangrilli was among those who torched Skenes on Friday night, shortly after the latter gave up five runs and four walks to the Reds. 

“The ace didn’t ace,” he said. “Far more questions than answers. For any of this to work, he has to. He looks like an out of shape, lumbering yeti sucking wind on a hot day.”

As of Aug. 2, neither Skenes nor the Pirates have signaled that he is injured. He has made all 23 starts and has never been on the injured list. The Pirates also have not limited his workload at any point this season. 

Unfortunately for Skenes, he’s nonetheless on track to hear his name associated with Mark Prior, and not for the right reasons. Baseball fans of a certain era will remember Prior, the electrifying former Cubs standout, never throwing a pitch after his 25th birthday because of elbow and shoulder injuries.

Skenes, who frequently hit 100 mph in his first two seasons, hasn’t topped 98 mph in any of his last four starts. But what’s especially strange is that both his strikeout (30.5%) and walk rates (6.3%) aren’t overly different than his career rates (30.8% and 6.0%, respectively).

However, opponents are hitting .230 with a .668 OPS against him. Consider that he limited hitters to a .198 batting average and .555 OPS in his first two seasons. So he’s still getting strikeouts and not allowing a massive increase in walk rate, but he’s instead become far more hittable. 

Pirates fans must stick by Paul Skenes, at least for now

There’s also the theory that Skenes, much like Cal Raleigh, is struggling after playing in the World Baseball Classic. At no point has Skenes even floated the possibility of a correlation, so he’s at least doing better than Raleigh in that department. Granted, I’d be more tempted to trust Skenes than Raleigh at the plate right now. 

We can point to whatever statistics or narratives we want to try and uncover what Skenes’ main issues are. The bottom line is that Skenes looks nothing like his early self, and Pirates fans are quickly losing their patience. 

But for the short term, keep the faith and hope Skenes turns it around. If his disappointing 2026 is a sign of things to come, then we’ll probably have the answer by this time next year. Which, considering how fast this season has gone, is a troubling idea to consider.

For now, though, let’s see whether Skenes turns it around. Pittsburgh entered Sunday only 2 ½ games back of the NL’s final Wild Card seed, and they’ll need Skenes to go above and beyond for an opportunity at playoff baseball.

In which case, Pirates fans can only pray to the baseball gods that Skenes has a miracle October in the tank.