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Tigers ace Tarik Skubal and Pirates ace Paul Skenes are slowly taking over as the new faces of MLB pitchers. Skubal won the 2024 AL Cy Young while Skenes claimed the 2024 NL Rookie of the Year honor. Just like how their respective teams' current situation indicate, both pitchers have dominated in contrasting ways this season.
Skubal has the fortune of playing for a postseason contender like the Tigers, it couldn't be more of a polar opposite of a situation for Skenes who plays in Pittsburgh. With the duo having pitch the exact number of innings at 83 1/3 and started the same amount of games at 13, let's take a look at how their stats match up against each other.
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Skubal currently holds a 6-2 record with a 2.16 ERA, 0.82 WHIP, and 105 strikeouts. He currently leads the MLB in WHIP and BB/9 or walks per nine innings with a poultry 0.76 as he has issued just seven base on balls across 13 starts.
The Tigers' ace average velocity currently sits at around 97.6 miles an hour, that is within the 94th percentile among all qualified pitchers. With the speed that he's throwing his fastballs, one might expect that he'll primarily rely on such pitches like Paul Skenes does. However, that couldn't be further from the truth, as Skubal's most used pitch at the time of writing is his changeup.
The lefty ace's changeup makes up for 30.7% of all the pitches he' thrown, with his four seamer coming in second at 28%. This allows Skubal to discombobulate batter on the mound, as he can throw a changeup to begin an at-bat and end it with a sinker intead.
On the other hand, Pirates ace Paul Skenes has heavily banked on his power stuff with a mix of four seamers and split finger fastballs combining for 57.1% of all the pitches he's thrown.
Skenes currently belong to the 96th percentile among MLB pitchers in fastball velocity, with an average of 98 miles an hour. He leads the National League in WHIP at 0.88 and hits per nine innings at just 5.83. Unlike Skubal, though, life has been tough in the Steel City for Skenes, having posted a 4-6 record with a 2.05 so far.
Skubal and Skenes represent a dying breed of MLB pitchers
While dominating the game at the early stage of their respective careers, they're also simultaneously representing a dying breed MLB pitchers as well. One in which starters are relied upon to navigate and pitch the entirety of the game.
Per league records, 118 complete games were pitched during the 2014 MLB season. However, with the rise of data analytics and load management, it has dwindled to 28 in 2024, representing just 6% of all the games played.
This year, there have been 11 complete games so far. with Skubal and Skenes each having one apiece. Once again, polarizing fortunes occurred for the starters as Skubal shut down the Guardians for a victory on May 25 with 13 punch outs recorded while Skenes' May 18 complete game outing against the Phillies with nine K's ended with the Pirates losing, 1-0.
