Slumping Paul Skenes not worried about velocity as Pirates face Marlins

Pittsburgh ace Paul Skenes will try to get his season back on track Tuesday when his Pirates visit the Miami Marlins.

Skenes (9-10, 3.96 ERA) is already a three-time All-Star at age 24. He won the National League's Cy Young Award last year and was the NL Rookie of the Year in 2024. Over his first two years, his 1.96 ERA was the best in the majors.

However, over his past 15 starts, Skenes has a 5.20 ERA, which is shocking considering his pedigree as the first overall pick in the 2023 MLB Draft.

Skenes is a power pitcher whose fastball averaged 98.8 mph as a rookie and 98.2 last year. This year, his velocity has dipped to 96.9 mph, but the right-hander insists he is healthy.

"I think it's funny that (reporters) only ask (about velocity) when I don't have a good outing," he said. "I think it's the first time in my career the 'velo' has kind of dipped. But it's not something I'm stressed over at all.

" ... I don't think velocity is something I need to pitch well."

When he's right, Skenes gets a high rate of strikeouts, ground balls and weak contact. But he has had only two quality starts since June 21 over the first extended slump of his career.

However, Skenes is 1-1 with a 2.60 ERA in three career starts against the Marlins.

His counterpart on Tuesday will be right-hander Eury Perez (5-9, 3.61).

Perez, who is one year younger than Skenes, is 1-1 with a 4.00 ERA in two career starts against the Pirates.

In 26 career home starts, Perez is 9-9 with a 2.75 ERA. He should be able to match fastballs with Skenes on Tuesday as his velocity generally averages 98 mph.

Another Marlins player to watch is Griffin Conine, who homered twice Sunday as Miami beat the visiting Los Angeles Angels 12-3. The two homers were vastly different.

The first blast had the highest exit velocity (115 mph) of any Marlins homer this year and traveled 434 feet. It was hit off of Shaun Anderson, a player Conine grew up playing with and against in the South Florida prep/travel ball ranks.

"Shaun is a good buddy of mine," Conine said. "I love competing against him. That hit felt good. I knew it was gone right away."

Conine's second homer was hit off catcher Tyler Heineman, who was brought in to save the bullpen, lobbing a 39.6-mph pitch. Conine said he had to do a "toe tap" to get his timing right.

"I've never faced a pitch that slow," Conine said. "I had to not move until the ball was right in front of me. It was almost like hitting off a tee."

Prior to Conine's first blast, no Marlins player had homered in a week. Conine now has 17 career homers, which are 197 fewer than his father, Jeff "Mr. Marlin" Conine hit during his 17-year career.

Pittsburgh and Miami are similar franchises in some ways. Both the Pirates ($106.95 million) and the Marlins ($82.24 million) are in the bottom seven in the majors in payroll.

The Pirates haven't made the playoffs since 2015. They haven't made the National League Championship Series since 1992.

Miami has never won a division title and has only made the playoffs four times in franchise history. Yet the Marlins have won two World Series (1997 and 2003).

--Field Level Media