Tim Benz: For Paul Skenes, the process has been even more impressive than the numbers

Thus far, the results have been impressive for Pittsburgh Pirates rookie pitcher Paul Skenes. Over the first eight games of his career, the 2023 No. 1 overall pick is 4-0 with an ERA of 2.14.

Through 46⅓ innings pitched, the LSU/Air Force product has yet to leave a game with his team trailing.

While Skenes hasn’t racked up enough innings yet to qualify for some of these rankings, consider where he is pacing on the Major League charts as of the start of play on Monday:

• His 2.14 ERA would be tied for second with Boston’s Tanner Houk and behind only Philadelphia’s Ranger Suarez (1.75).

• His rate of 11.85 strikeouts per nine innings is also third behind only Chicago White Sox lefty Garrett Crochet (12.59) and former Pirate and current Los Angeles Dodgers right-hander Tyler Glasnow (12.15).

• At 7.63, his strikeout-to-walk ratio would rank fourth in MLB.

• A 0.99 WHIP tracks him to be tied with George Kirby of Seattle for 13th.

• His batting average against of .222 would place him tied for 23rd with Freddy Peralta (Milwaukee) and Cole Ragans (Kansas City).

In his most recent outing Sunday, during a 3-1 loss to Tampa Bay, Skenes left the game in a 1-1 tie after seven innings. He allowed a leadoff homer but nothing after that. The 6-foot-6 right-hander struck out eight while walking one.

“He pitched great. We just didn’t score for him,” outfielder Bryan Reynolds said following the loss.

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Generally, though, the usually offensively inept Pirates have put up runs in support of Skenes. The Bucs have won six of Skenes’ previous seven outings, averaging 7.28 runs of production in games that Skenes starts. To be fair, though, some of the totals were inflated by the Pirates adding on after Skenes had given way to the bullpen.

Regardless, Skenes has had to navigate plenty of innings knowing he doesn’t have much margin for error. With this largely anemic offensive roster, what Pirates pitcher does?

Not only have the results been good, but his process has been impressive as well. In some games, such as his 11- strikeout, no-hit performance over six innings at Wrigley Field back in May, Skenes has been able to use his much-hyped velocity to just blow batters away.

Among MLB starters, his 99.3 average miles per hour on his fastball is the best in the league.

In other games, though, when it was obvious that batters were just sitting back on his fastball and zeroing in on it, he has kept them off-kilter by mixing in a variety of other pitches such as his curveball, changeup, slider and “splinker.” That’s a sinker-splitter hybrid that Skenes relied on heavily in his big league debut in Pittsburgh against the Cubs, resulting in a dozen swings and misses.

Skenes has pretty significant velocity spreads despite similar shapes.

SP: 94.4 mph 0.8" IVB 14.5" HB (29 P)
CH: 87.6 mph 4.1" IVB 16.7" HB (202 P)

So how is he using these two "offspeed" pitches?

4/ pic.twitter.com/xg8roDMuoj

— Adam Naliwajko (@AdamNaliwajko) June 22, 2024

During a 2-1 Pirates win in St. Louis, Skenes decided to attack the Cardinals with his curveball. Via MLB.com, Skenes entered that game having only used it 18 times over his first five starts. He used it 20 times in that contest, including three for strikeouts. Four such pitches got whiffs. Four others were called strikes.

Paul Skenes, Filthy 84mph Curveball. ???? pic.twitter.com/g6EpkfVzML

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) June 11, 2024

In a 4-1 win last week against Cincinnati at PNC Park, Skenes went to the changeup more often than he had in any previous outing because he said the Reds were waiting on his fastball. He used it 10 times on 96 pitches, even though he only uses it 4% of the time overall.

MLB.com’s Savant Statcast tracked it at 87.6 mph, mixed in with 18 curveballs at 82.7 miles per hour. That change of pace helped him get to the fastball at an average of 99.6 mph when he needed it and made it look even more effective than it already is.

As a result, the Reds were only able to plate one run. That came in the first inning. Then it was nothing but zeros after Skenes made the adjustment.

“We got them off the heater. We got them thinking about other stuff. It was truly a five-pitch game,” Skenes said after that victory. “Whether a team is sitting on a heater or not, they were on the heater. ‘Sitting’ on it or ‘being’ on it are two different things. They were on it early in the game. So we adjusted pretty quickly after that and made do with what we had.”

The Rays had a similar mindset on Sunday. So Skenes did as well.

“We’re not going to deviate from that plan (of starting with the fastball) before we’ve seen anything from them. If they can’t catch up to the heater, then why should we adjust at all? But they kind of showed that, and we adjusted to it,” Skenes said after his outing Sunday.

It’s not just the polish and the pitch mix from Skenes that has been so interesting. With his size, power and resume, Skenes was a guy who many assumed would find his way through his rookie season by blowing away opposing lineups when he was on his best night and absorbing counterpunches from big league hitters when he wasn’t.

In other words, a little of what rookie teammate Jared Jones has been going through as he has ridden some ups and downs after a blistering start.

But for Skenes, he’s often had to navigate his way through a lot of traffic and has done so with aplomb. His no-hit outing in Wrigley aside, opposing batters will make contact and will get on base against Skenes. Six of the other seven times Skenes has taken the hill, batters have gotten five or six hits off of him over what usually amounts to six innings.

However, you rarely see him get gashed for multi-run innings. He controls the run game and induces double plays and shallow fly balls with less than two outs and men on base. And when he really needs a strikeout with men on base, he gets it.

“The ability to adjust really stands out. He’s done a nice job adjusting,” manager Derek Shelton said Sunday. “When anybody throws 100 or 102, you have to attack the hardest pitch. That’s something he’ll continue to see. The really good thing is he has other weapons to attack people with, and we have seen that the last couple starts.”

If that’s an attribute Skenes has honed already, he might be one of those rare pitchers who lives up to the hype that seemed unattainable when he first entered the big leagues.

So far, that’s been the case.