After winning the NL Cy Young in his first full season in MLB last year, Paul Skenes has had a rather rocky road in 2026. He was mostly excellent for the first two-plus months of the season, but the wheels have come off and he’s been struggling throughout much of the summer.
Skenes’s velocity has dipped this season, particularly over the last two months. On the year, his four-seam fastball is averaging 96.8 mph, down from 98.1 mph last season and 98.8 mph in his rookie campaign. In fact, during his recent start against the Marlins on Aug. 11, Skenes’s fastball averaged just 95.8 mph, the lowest in any game of his career. He registered just 65 pitches in that game before being removed after five innings.
