One of the most electrifying pitchers emerged into the scene as a rookie and became one of the biggest faces in baseball. Pittsburgh Pirates first overall pick Paul Skenes was stellar and won the NL Rookie of the Year because of it. Not only did he make Pirates history, he also made baseball history on numerous occasions. Skenes delivered on the hype that surrounded him. He was nasty in 2024 and could be even nastier in 2025.

Paul Skenes Delivered On All Counts

Skenes was one of the nastiest pitchers in baseball. He had a nose for the strike zone and often made batters look extremely silly. Not to mention, he managed to strikeout Juan Soto is what was quite the at bat. It was pure cinema watching him square off against Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge, and the results spoke for themselves.

Paul Skenes vs. Juan Soto.

A Very Uncomfortable AB pic.twitter.com/DMbqeS65m4

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) December 9, 2024

Skenes had a phenomenal year, finishing with 1.96 ERA and a 0.95 WHIP. Furthermore, Skenes was brought the heat with his velocity and also ranked in the 95th percentile for his strikeout rate. Skenes was nasty and a lot of that had to do with his stuff that he brought to the mound with his arsenal.

Skenes Was Nasty and Can Get Nastier

Skenes had quite the arsenal in 2024. In his arsenal is a four seam fastball, sinker, curveball, sweeper, slider, and change up. He threw each pitch over 100 times, so he used each one a good fair amount.

Paul Skenes, 100mph Fastball, 95mph Splinker, 85mph Sweeper and 88mph Changeup, 4 Pitch Overlay pic.twitter.com/zHareg3Owz

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) September 23, 2024

His most used pitch was of course his four seam fastball. It averaged 98.8 MPH and saw him get the most strikeouts while using that pitch. If that didn’t blow by you in amazement, his sinker was just as filthy. Skenes’ sinker averaged 94 MPH and was an untouchable pitch. Batters were only hitting .184 when facing that pitch and was a pitch that had a whiff rate of 29.3%. In addition, he had three pitches have a whiff rate north of 30%. Despite throwing his change up the least amount, it generated a whiff rate of 54.8% and was his best put away pitch. His stuff is nasty, as he finished with a 110 Stuff+ in 2024. As a batter, it has to be tough facing Skenes, as you truly don’t know what he will throw and what ways he will be able to fool you. If you thought that was nasty, he’s adding to the arsenal.

Skenes is currently developing a two seam fastball and a cutter. That’s already adding to what’s an already lethal arsenal and quite impactful. I can only imagine the velocity that batters are going to get punched with when facing those pitches.

For his 2025 projections, Skenes is projected to finish with a 1.08 WHIP and a 3.00 ERA. Also, he is projected to have a 30.5 K% and a 7.1 BB%. If I am a betting man, he shatters those and performs better than the projected value. With a new look arsenal and coming off a stellar campaign, Skenes could have a monstrous 2025.

The man with the best mustache in baseball is going to be appointment television come Opening Day. Make your Calendars, March 27 is not far away.