Paul Skenes
#30 SP · Pirates
Cy Young '25Rookie of the Year '24All-MLB 1st Team '25All-MLB First Team '25ROY '24
Height
6'6"
Weight
260 lbs
Age
24
College
LSU
Draft
2023, Rd 1, #1
Experience
2 yrs
Bats/Throws
R/R
A+
A+
B-
N/A
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The Verdict on Paul, in One Read
On the field, Paul Skenes grades out as an excellent SP for Pirates (A+ Performance). That places him 1st of 252 graded starting pitchers. The money matches the play — the Contract Value Index lands at A+, a clear bargain. The public read is positive (B- Sentiment), drawn from current news and social signal rather than the box score.
Career StatsA+
| Year | Team | GP | ERA | W-L | K | WHIP | IP | SV |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Career |  | 65 | 2.060337 | 27-16 | 449 | 0.9130435 | 0.0 | 0 |
| 2026 | | 13 | 3.09 | 6-5 | 82 | 0.91 | 70.0 | 0 |
| 2025 |
Current Contract
Length
1 year
Total Value
$1.1M
Guaranteed
$651K
AAV
$1.1M/yr
Guaranteed %60%
Performance Analysis
A+
FCA+
Paul Skenes grades as an elite performer among MLB starting pitchers, earning a A+ Performance grade. He carries a 1.96 ERA (well below the league average of 4.20, placing him among the best in baseball) and a 0.95 WHIP across 320.2 innings pitched with a 10.8 K/9 rate. His 21-13 record provides context on team support and run prevention. His strikeout rate of 10.8 per nine innings ranks among the best in the league, showing dominant swing-and-miss ability. As a sophomore at 23, Paul is a key contributor for the Pirates.
Fan & Media Sentiment
B-
Positive
NegativeNeutralPositive
Paul Skenes enters mid-season with public perception that has recovered meaningfully from a brutal nadir, sitting at a B- sentiment grade after trending up sharply over the last 30 days from a D- low. The narrative anchor dragging that grade down is well-documented: his season-opening start against the Mets was the shortest of his career, as he was pulled in the first inning and handed the reigning NL Cy Young winner's reputation a jarring early-season blow that dominated every major outlet's coverage for weeks. The disconnect between sentiment and production is stark — his performance grade remains a steady A+, meaning the underlying talent and results have reasserted themselves even as the media fingerprints from that disastrous opener haven't fully faded. There's a secondary narrative forming around whether the Pirates organization is managing Skenes aggressively enough, with recent commentary suggesting some observers believe the team has been too cautious with their franchise arm rather than letting him pitch through adversity — and the only blemish on his reputation against elite competition is a notable difficulty against the Cardinals specifically. The roster activity around him — a string of pitching depth moves bringing in names like Braxton Ashcraft and Cam Sanders — paints a picture of an organization patching its rotation around Skenes rather than building peer competition at the top, which keeps expectations on him enormous and the margin for poor starts razor-thin. At 23 years old with a 2025 Cy Young, All-MLB 1st Team honors in back-to-back seasons, and a 2024 Rookie of the Year on his resume, the pedigree is undeniable — but the narrative won't fully rehabilitate until he strings together a run of dominant outings that buries the memory of Opening Day. The bottom line: sentiment is trending in the right direction, but Skenes is still pitching his way out of a hole that a single first inning dug deep.
Contracts in the Same Value Band
Other same-position deals the Contract Value Index also places in the A band — a quick read on where Paul's contract sits relative to comparable money.
How Paul Compares at the Position
Paul Skenes ranks 1st of 252 graded starting pitchers by performance. Paul grades out ahead of names like Jack LeIter (A+).
Peers ranked by Performance grade among players at the same position. Tap any name for their full profile.
Recent Games
| Date | OPP | Result | AB | H | R | HR | RBI | BB | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sun, 6/14 | vs MIA | L 2-4 | - | - | - | 0 | - | - | - |
| Tue, 6/9 | vs LAD | L 3-12 | - | - | - | 0 | - | - | - |
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About this player
Paul Skenes is a player in his 2nd MLB season listed at SP for the Pirates. FanVerdicts covers every MLB player, team, GM, and transaction — and puts your verdict on all of it. Sign in to cast your Fan Verdict on Paul Skenes, see where the crowd lands, and argue the call. FanVerdicts also brings its own read — performance, sentiment, and Contract Value Index — as one honest input alongside the crowd's. Where FanVerdicts has weighed in so far: Contract Value Index A+, Performance A+, Sentiment B-.
The crowd's Fan Verdict moves in real time as fans vote on this profile. FanVerdicts' own read updates as new data lands — performance recalculates when MLB game stats post, sentiment shifts with media coverage and fan discussion, and the Contract Value Index recomputes when contract terms change. Contract details below show the structure (years, total value, average annual value, guarantees) behind the Contract Value Index read.
For league-wide context, the MLB hub has team rankings, GM report cards, the transactions feed, and live scoreboards. The MLB player rankings page sorts every active player by performance and contract value within their position.