Despite an active offseason and a busy trade deadline, the Pittsburgh Pirates were officially eliminated from postseason contention this past weekend. At 79-77, they have a chance to finish with a winning record for the first time since 2018, but that is the smallest of consolations. The Pirates made moves intending to contend this year, but missed the postseason.
One reason -- maybe the biggest reason, but not the only reason -- that the Pirates missed the postseason is a down year by reigning Cy Young winner Paul Skenes. A down year that included some outright bad stretches. Skenes has a 3.91 ERA in 168 innings this season, but from May 17 to July 31, he had a 14-start stretch with a 5.18 ERA.
Pittsburgh went 3-11 in those 14 games. Over the weekend, Skenes acknowledged that the World Baseball Classic may have contributed to his fluctuating velocity and down year because it interrupted his usual spring training buildup. "There are a lot of other factors, so I don't want to put everything on that, but I feel like that was kind of the root of it a little bit," Skenes told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
"Usually that time of year, you're kind of ramping up and it's a little bit slow. You can kind of get onto the slope and find your body. One live (batting practice), you're topping at 97, and then the next you're 98, 99.
And that wasn't the case this year. Looking back, I don't think that really helped." Skenes made two starts for Team USA in the WBC, which has strict pitch limits and rest requirements, and allowed one run in 8 ⅓ innings. He did not make it out of the first inning on Opening Day, in part because his defense betrayed him, then Skenes put together a dominant eight-start stretch in which he pitched to a 1.09 ERA and averaged over six innings per start.
The rough stretch began after that, as did the velocity decline. And to be clear, Skenes still threw very hard. There were just more 95s and 96s and fewer 98s and 99s.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
