Paul Skenes

23-Year-Old PitcherSP

Pittsburgh Pirates

2025 Stats

W-L

10-10

ERA

1.97

WHIP

0.95

216

2026 Projections

W-L

ERA

WHIP

Unlock Our Projections

2026 Fantasy Outlook

Skenes continued to show what all the hype was about upon his arrival to the big leagues, winning his first Cy Young Award in unanimous fashion in 2025 after winning Rookie of the Year in his debut season. The right-hander dominates with an overpowering fastball that averages 98 mph and a wide array of secondary pitches, including the sweeper, splitter, changeup and so on. He now owns a 5.22 K/BB and 1.96 ERA over 320.2 innings in the majors, numbers which put him on an early Hall of Fame trajectory at the age of 23. Skenes alone could not prop the Pirates out of the cellar in the NL Central, and in fact he became the first Cy Young winner with a record of .500 or worse, highlighting the issues here in regards to team context. The park is favorable, however, and Skenes' combination of stuff and command is rivaled by few, making him an obvious first-round candidate for 2026 and potentially the first pitcher off the board in fantasy drafts despite the lingering threat of TJS that is inherent with the game's hardest throwers. Read Past Outlooks

RANKS

Rest of Season