Pittsburgh Pirates ace Paul Skenes is unquestionably one of the best pitchers in baseball. But is he the best? That’s harder to say.
Choosing between Skenes and Detroit Tigers ace, Tarik Skubal, is tough. Skubal’s won back-to-back AL Cy Young awards and has slightly more wins, innings and strikeouts, so he probably deserves the edge over the reigning NL Cy Young winner. Skubal has also dominated in the playoffs, whereas Skenes has yet to pitch in the postseason.
MLB Network agrees. “The Shredder” revealed MLB’s top 10 starting pitchers for 2026 on Wednesday, and Skubal came out on top. Skenes was behind him at No. 2.
“He seemingly can just invent pitches as he goes along. He’s got a great feel for shaping the pitch. The changeup became a big pitch where it wasn’t in 2024,” said former All-Star pitcher Ron Darling. “You mentioned that the projection is Tom Seaver. I know from playing with Dwight Gooden. His first two years were almost exactly like Dwight’s.”
Story continues below advertisement
Brian Kenny, who ranked Skenes No. 1 on his list and compared him to Seaver, also noted that since the Live Ball Era started in 1920, Skenes has the lowest ERA (1.96) of any pitcher through their first 55 career starts.
If Skenes keeps it up, he has a good chance to be No. 1 next year, especially if the Pirates stay in contention and don’t limit his workload down the stretch. But for now, No. 2 ain’t bad.
More Pirates: Pirates Star Makes Major World Baseball Classic Decision
Story continues below advertisement