SI

Pirates' Paul Skenes Reveals Two Pitches He's Experimenting With at Spring Training

After a dominant rookie year, Skenes is looking for another edge over hitters entering the 2025 season.

Tim Capurso

Skenes throws the ball during spring training workouts.
Skenes throws the ball during spring training workouts. / Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images
In this story:

After a dominant first MLB season that saw him start the All-Star Game, finish third in the National League CY Young award voting, and win NL Rookie of the Year, Paul Skenes isn't resting on his laurels.

The Pittsburgh Pirates' young ace told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Saturday that he is experimenting with two new pitches at the club's spring training site in Bradenton, Fla.

Skenes, already armed with six different pitches, intends to add a running two-seam fastball and a cutter to his already-impressive arsenal.

"With the cutter in itself, he’s had his slider and he tried to throw it two different ways,” Pirates pitching coach Oscar Marin said, "So he has a sweeper, he has a slider, it was just a pitch to be able to consistently get one shape with and be able to be a strikable pitch to be more efficient. With the sinker, it’s just something that he wanted to play with and kind of see where it goes from there."

If posed the question, opposing hitters would probably say the last thing they want to see from Skenes is more offerings. In 2024, MLB batters hit just .197 against Skenes, who also posted a stellar 33.1 percent strikeout rate, which would have ranked third among starters who recorded at least 70 innings pitched.

And now, Skenes will have two more pitches to keep hitters off-balance, in addition to his triple-digits fastball, sweeper, slider, curveball, changeup and sinker-splitter hybrid called the splinker, which is already one of the most lethal put-away pitches in the major leagues.

So, why does Skenes need more offerings?

"Getting ahead, winning the 0-0, 0-1, 1-1 [pitches], winning those counts, that stuff is important," Skenes told ESPN.

Skenes went 11-3 with a 1.96 ERA while striking out 170 batters in 133 innings pitched across 23 starts in 2024. Pittsburgh begins Grapefruit League play on February 22 against the Baltimore Orioles and opens the 2025 season on the road against the Miami Marlins on March 27.

More of the Latest Around MLB

Published |Modified
Tim Capurso
TIM CAPURSO

Tim Capurso is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. Prior to joining SI in November 2023, he wrote for RotoBaller and ClutchPoints, where he was the lead editor for MLB, college football and NFL coverage. A lifelong Yankees and Giants fan, Capurso grew up just outside New York City and now lives near Philadelphia. When he's not writing, he enjoys reading, exercising and spending time with his family, including his three-legged cat Willow, who, unfortunately, is an Eagles fan.

Home/MLB