Paul Skenes Adding New Pitches to Arsenal Before 2nd MLB Season with Pirates

Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes is bringing some new weapons to his repertoire.

The reigning Rookie of the Year winner is heading into his first full season in MLB and told reporters that he is adding a sinker and cutter to his pitch mix for the 2025 season.

“I’m definitely not going to try to strike out fewer people, but just with my stuff, presence and that kind of thing,” Skenes said, per Noah Hiles of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “I’m going to get my strikeouts. It’s just a matter of limiting the 1-0, 2-0 counts. That’s more of how I’m thinking about it.”

The decision to add more pitches to his arsenal is something supported by the team, with pitching coach Oscar Marin saying that Skenes is developing pitches he was already somewhat using.

“With the cutter in itself, he’s had his slider and he tried to throw it two different ways,” Marin said, per Hiles. “So he has a sweeper, he has a slider, it was just a pitch to be able to consistently get one shape with and be able to be a strikable pitch to be more efficient. With the sinker, it’s just something that he wanted to play with and kind of see where it goes from that.”

Skenes was the No. 1 pick in the 2023 MLB Draft and had a meteoric rise through the minor leagues. He was called up in May of 2024 and was dominant from the jump. He finished the season with an 11-3 record and a 1.96 ERA across 133 innings. He had 170 strikeouts and finished third in NL Cy Young voting.

He will be at the top of the Pirates rotation in 2025 and some new pitches in his repertoire could allow him to build off the successful debut season. The Pirates went 76-86 in 2024 and have not reached the postseason since 2015.