Paul Skenes Blames WBC Play for Affecting Velocity Drop in 2026 MLB Season

Paul Skenes' drop in velocity has been a major storyline surrounding the Pittsburgh Pirates this season, and he placed some of the blame on pitching in the World Baseball Classic.

"There are a lot of other factors, so I don't want to put everything on that," the Pittsburgh Pirates ace said, per Colin Beazley of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "But I feel like that was kind of the root of it a little bit."

He said the drop in velocity was initially intentional, but he was never able to fully ramp up to his typical level.

"Usually, that time of year, you're kind of ramping up and it's a little bit slow," Skenes explained. "You can kind of get onto the slope and find your body. One live [batting practice], you're topping at 97 [mph], and then the next you're 98, 99. And that wasn't the case this year. ... Looking back, I don't think that really helped."

Skenes has still been solid this season with a 3.91 ERA, 1.13 WHIP and 192 strikeouts in 168 innings. In fact, the vast majority of the starting pitchers across the league would take those numbers.

But the vast majority of the pitchers across the league aren't Skenes.

The right-hander broke onto the major league scene in 2024 as the National League Rookie of the Year who finished third in Cy Young voting with a 1.96 ERA, 0.95 WHIP and 170 strikeouts in 133 innings.

He was even better in his second year as the NL Cy Young winner with a 1.97 ERA, 0.95 WHIP and 216 strikeouts in 187.2 innings. Seeing how that was his age-23 season, it was realistic to expect continued dominance for the foreseeable future.

However, he hasn't been the same in 2026 in part because of the drop in velocity.

Beazley noted Skenes averaged 98.8 mph on his fastball as a rookie and 98.1 in his second year. By comparison, his average this season is 96.8 mph.

Codify highlighted the recent fall off in his starts:

Fortunately for Skenes and the Pirates, he is still just 24 years old with plenty of time to bounce back. He also admitted he didn't train with a specific velocity in mind for the 2026 campaign, which was an unusual one that started earlier because of the World Baseball Classic.

There is no WBC in 2027, meaning he can go through a normal offseason and spring training ramp-up before taking the mound in his fourth season.

Perhaps that will help Skenes return to being one of the best pitchers in baseball like he was during his first two seasons.