Brewers legend gives verdict on Tarik Skubal's standing in MLB

Milwaukee Brewers legend and former pitcher Dan Plesac gives his take on the best pitchers in the ongoing MLB 2025 season. The former All-Star ace was ranked as the best pitcher after the first month of the season.

Dan Plesac explained his list of the top 25 starting pitchers as of May 1 on MLB Network on Thursday. The top five of his list comprised of Pittsburgh Pirates ace Paul Skenes, San Diego Padres' Michael King, Los Angeles Dodgers hurler Yoshinobu Yamamoto, New York Yankees ace Max Fried and reigning AL Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal.

Plesac named Tarik Skubal as the best lefty in the league and claimed that it would be hard to dethrone the flamethrower, who has looked the part in the last few outings. The former Brewers ace said (from 3:01 mark onwards):

"He's the King of Hill, Tarik Skubal. He's back and if his last one was any indicator, he's going to be tough to dethrone from the top. He's that good. His last three have been two powerhouse pitches, an explosive heater, a great change up and a good hard slider. He's the best lefty in the game right now."

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The former pitcher also hailed Yankees' offseason acquisition Max Fried as one of the best left-handed pitchers in the league. The All-Star ace has led the Yankees rotation commendably in Gerrit Cole's absence.

Brewers legend explains Paul Skenes' position in his ranking

One of the surprises on Dan Plesac's list was reigning NL Rookie of the Year Paul Skenes' position. Widely regarded as one of the best pitchers in the league, Skenes was placed fifth below NL rivals Michael King and Yoshinobu Yamamoto.

Plesac explained the reason behind Skenes' position in the list, citing the young flamethrower's poor last outing against the Chicago Cubs on Thursday. Skenes' slide in the ranking was caused by his shaky performance in an 8-3 loss, where he conceded three earned runs on three home runs in an inning.

Skenes took the loss in the game, taking his record to 3-3 for the season with a 2.74 ERA.

About the author

Chaitanya Prakash is an editor who covers US Sports at Sportskeeda. His first brush with sportswriting was in 2012 when the greatest football manager of all time, Sir Alex Ferguson, bid farewell to the beautiful game.

Although having started out professionally as a cricket writer in 2022, Chaitanya's curiosity and indiscriminate interest in all sports in general eventually introduced him to America's favorite pastime.

While Chaitanya's favorite player from the current crop is the dynamic Venezuelan Ronald Acuna Jr., his all-time favorite, however, is Pedro Martinez, for his self-belief and consistency. He also rates Jose Bautista's iconic bat flip in 2015 as his favorite moment in baseball history.

Chaitanya specializes in reporting on technical aspects of the game or analyzing patterns behind specific plays. He also likes pondering over players' self-assessments following the conclusion of a game as it helps him get an idea of how they think about the sport in general.

When not cheering for his favorites across sports, Chaitanya likes being transported to the past through a good war documentary or a historical documentary in general.

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Edited by Chaitanya Prakash