Players · S · Pitcher · 2026

Paul Skenes

Pittsburgh Pirates National League Central

Age: 24
B/T: R/R
Height: 6' 6"
Weight: 260 lb
Number: #30

Born: May 29, 2002 in Fullerton, CA, United States
MLB debut: May 11, 2024
Drafted: 2023, round 1
College: Louisiana State
High school: El Toro

dbWAR: 14.5
IP: 174.1
ERA: 3.82
FIP: 3.33
K/9: 10.3
FIP−: 80

Paul Skenes is a starting pitcher for the Pittsburgh Pirates. In 2026 he struck out 200 batters over 174.1 innings across 32 appearances, 32 of them starts, going 10-11. His ERA of 3.82 is 8.6% lower than the league average of 4.18 — 6th of 15 on his team, and 225th of 538 among MLB pitchers with 20+ innings. Stripping out defence, his 3.33 FIP suggests he pitched better than his ERA shows. He missed bats on 28.2% of swings (14.4% of every pitch he threw), walked 6.9% of the batters he faced and struck out 28.1%. His 4.0 dbWAR is built from that FIP rather than runs allowed, so it credits him for what he controls and not for the defence behind him.

League context

Percentile among qualified pitchers, 2026.

FIP3.33

K/910.3

WHIP1.12

WAR4.0

WAR by season

Pitching

Standard and advanced, by season.


2026	PIT	32	32	174.1	10	11	146	74	200	49	3.82	3.33	1.12	10.3	2.5	91	80	4.0
2025	PIT	32	32	187.2	10	10	136	41	216	42	1.97	2.36	0.95	10.4	2.0	47	57	6.2
2024	PIT	23	23	133.0	11	3	94	29	170	32	1.96	2.44	0.95	11.5	2.2	48	60	4.2

Platoon splits

How left- and right-handed hitters fare against him.

Season

Opponent batting by the side the hitter bats from, 2026. Counted from play-by-play, so totals can differ from the box-score season line by a plate appearance or two.
Split	PA	AB	H	HR	BB	SO	AVG	OBP	SLG	wOBA	K%
vs LHB	416	373	83	13	34	111	.223	.291	.397	.303	26.7%
vs RHB	297	271	63	7	15	89	.232	.291	.354	.289	30.0%

Pitch sequencing

What Paul Skenes throws in each count, and what he follows each pitch with. Select any cell for the breakdown.

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Four-seamSweeperChangeupSinkerSplitterSliderCurveball

Select a count to see exactly what Paul Skenes throws in it.

Pitch arsenal

What he throws, how hard, how often it misses, and what hitters do with it.

Season


Four-Seam Fastball	40.8%	1,179	96.8	2,176	53.6%	29.8%	264	.216	.691
Sweeper	15.9%	459	84.3	2,332	51.2%	28.8%	74	.162	.533
Changeup	12.5%	361	88.7	1,820	37.1%	37.2%	88	.227	.649
Sinker	11.8%	341	96.6	2,152	46.9%	14.8%	87	.299	.806
Splitter	10.0%	290	93.2	1,637	43.1%	17.8%	64	.328	.755
Slider	8.7%	250	86.7	2,316	48.8%	35.5%	67	.149	.504
Curveball	0.3%	10	81.8	2,422	40.0%	20.0%	1	—	—

Paul Skenes's arsenal by usage. Velocity is average release speed in mph, spin in rpm, and whiff rate is misses per swing — the cleanest single measure of whether a pitch beats hitters. BAA and OPS are what hitters did against each pitch, credited to the one that ended the plate appearance, and are left blank under 15 at-bats.

Head to head

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Similar players

Nearest 2026 seasons by command, run prevention and role, on rate statistics rather than totals.

Jared JonesPIT

ERA: 3.87
FIP: 3.30
SO: 118
WAR: 2.3

Very close

Jacob deGromTEX

ERA: 4.20
FIP: 3.11
SO: 201
WAR: 3.9

Very close

Reid DetmersLAA

ERA: 3.36
FIP: 3.02
SO: 211
WAR: 4.5

Very close

Cade CavalliWSH

ERA: 3.02
FIP: 3.26
SO: 200
WAR: 4.1

Very close

How these are computed

wOBA uses linear weights measured from this season's own play-by-play rather than published constants, and wRC+ is park-adjusted against that same league. dbWAR is our own open implementation — not fWAR or bWAR — and the full derivation, including its simplifications, is on the methodology page.