Welcome to the Year of the Splinker.
The signature pitch from Pittsburgh Pirates right-hander Paul Skenes is expected to continue its ascent into baseball lexicon in 2025. It is part slider, part sinker and completely the next great thing.
Skenes’ pitch generated equal parts curiosity as it did outs. It is clearly fun to say—just watch a broadcast of any Skenes outing—while being far from enjoyable to hit.
Marketing possibilities are endless:
One Splinker Cola, please.
Our lawn stays green all summer with The Splinker.
The rates on a Splinker Loan are guaranteed to drop.
Skenes seemed to be just warming up when he unleashed the combination sinker/slider on MLB hitters starting in May last season.
At optimal execution, the pitch starts toward the lower third of the strike zone and uses a deliberate sideways slider spin before dropping toward the bottom of, or beneath, the zone just as it reaches the plate.
Considered by some as MLB’s hardest pitch to hit in 2024, it has made Skenes an instant star, although the Orange County, California, native has been rocketing toward this moment for some time now.
A standout pitcher in high school, Skenes spent time at the United States Air Force Academy and at LSU before he was the No. 1 overall draft pick in 2023. He made just 12 minor league starts while posting a 2.12 ERA and 14.6 strikeouts per nine innings before the Pirates decided the time was now.
There was mostly success last season, but even in the brief moments when things did not go his way, Skenes had a way of compartmentalizing it like a savvy veteran.
In a June 5 outing against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Skenes’ fifth major league start, L.A. star Shohei Ohtani rocked a full-count 100 mph fastball off the batter’s eye in center field. With a 7-0 lead at the time, Skenes could not resist the chance to test power on power.
The moment turned into a valuable lesson when Skenes faced the Dodgers again on Aug. 10 and he set down Ohtani all three times, including the last two by strikeout. The first strikeout came on a 93.5 mph foul-tip splinker. The second came swinging on an 83.5 mph curveball.
“I think we learned our lesson the last time,” Skenes said. “Just wanted to show him different stuff.”
One batter after Ohtani struck out for the second time, the Dodgers’ Teoscar Hernández hit a home run off the splinker. Even then, Skenes’ confidence was present after the pitch yielded a home run for the first time in his 15 starts to that point.
“I’m not going to stop throwing it,” Skenes said. “He won the Home Run Derby, right? He won it for a reason. You have to tip your cap, and I’m going to keep attacking guys with that pitch.”
When the season was complete, Skenes was 11-3 with a 1.96 ERA and 170 strikeouts in 133 innings. And with the Pirates out of contention down the stretch, he leaned into his changeup a bit more to establish that as an out pitch in his wide-ranging arsenal.
Skenes was the National League starter in the All-Star Game last July and finished third in NL Cy Young Award voting behind Zack Wheeler of the Philadelphia Phillies and winner Chris Sale of the Atlanta Braves. He was named NL Rookie of the Year by a healthy margin over the San Diego Padres’ Jackson Merrill.
Set to face the Miami Marlins on Opening Day, Skenes’ second start was expected to come against the Tampa Bay Rays next week. His first home start could come against the New York Yankees.
April also will include a three-game set against the World Series champion Dodgers in Los Angeles and a potential duel with MVP Ohtani again, but really, any night Skenes takes the mound is a reason to watch. He was as good as anybody for five months last season, and the assumption is that he will only get better.
The last time the Pirates were in the postseason was in 2015 when they lost in the wild-card round for the second consecutive season. They lost in the division series in 2013. Skenes intends to end Pittsburgh’s decade-long wait for a postseason game.
“The bar needs to be set pretty high,” Skenes told MLB.com with the 2025 season drawing near. “Not taking anything from those (2013-15) guys. The fact that that’s a golden era of recent Pirates baseball, that needs to change. We owe it to the city.”
And the splinker could get them there.Welcome to the Year of the Splinker.
The signature pitch from Pittsburgh Pirates right-hander Paul Skenes is expected to continue its ascent into baseball lexicon in 2025. It is part slider, part sinker and completely the next great thing.
Skenes’ pitch generated equal parts curiosity as it did outs. It is clearly fun to say—just watch a broadcast of any Skenes outing—while being far from enjoyable to hit.
Marketing possibilities are endless:
One Splinker Cola, please.
Our lawn stays green all summer with The Splinker.
The rates on a Splinker Loan are guaranteed to drop.
Skenes seemed to be just warming up when he unleashed the combination sinker/slider on MLB hitters starting in May last season.
At optimal execution, the pitch starts toward the lower third of the strike zone and uses a deliberate sideways slider spin before dropping toward the bottom of, or beneath, the zone just as it reaches the plate.
Considered by some as MLB’s hardest pitch to hit in 2024, it has made Skenes an instant star, although the Orange County, California, native has been rocketing toward this moment for some time now.
A standout pitcher in high school, Skenes spent time at the United States Air Force Academy and at LSU before he was the No. 1 overall draft pick in 2023. He made just 12 minor league starts while posting a 2.12 ERA and 14.6 strikeouts per nine innings before the Pirates decided the time was now.
There was mostly success last season, but even in the brief moments when things did not go his way, Skenes had a way of compartmentalizing it like a savvy veteran.
In a June 5 outing against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Skenes’ fifth major league start, L.A. star Shohei Ohtani rocked a full-count 100 mph fastball off the batter’s eye in center field. With a 7-0 lead at the time, Skenes could not resist the chance to test power on power.
The moment turned into a valuable lesson when Skenes faced the Dodgers again on Aug. 10 and he set down Ohtani all three times, including the last two by strikeout. The first strikeout came on a 93.5 mph foul-tip splinker. The second came swinging on an 83.5 mph curveball.
“I think we learned our lesson the last time,” Skenes said. “Just wanted to show him different stuff.”
One batter after Ohtani struck out for the second time, the Dodgers’ Teoscar Hernández hit a home run off the splinker. Even then, Skenes’ confidence was present after the pitch yielded a home run for the first time in his 15 starts to that point.
“I’m not going to stop throwing it,” Skenes said. “He won the Home Run Derby, right? He won it for a reason. You have to tip your cap, and I’m going to keep attacking guys with that pitch.”
When the season was complete, Skenes was 11-3 with a 1.96 ERA and 170 strikeouts in 133 innings. And with the Pirates out of contention down the stretch, he leaned into his changeup a bit more to establish that as an out pitch in his wide-ranging arsenal.
Skenes was the National League starter in the All-Star Game last July and finished third in NL Cy Young Award voting behind Zack Wheeler of the Philadelphia Phillies and winner Chris Sale of the Atlanta Braves. He was named NL Rookie of the Year by a healthy margin over the San Diego Padres’ Jackson Merrill.
Set to face the Miami Marlins on Opening Day, Skenes’ second start was expected to come against the Tampa Bay Rays next week. His first home start could come against the New York Yankees.
April also will include a three-game set against the World Series champion Dodgers in Los Angeles and a potential duel with MVP Ohtani again, but really, any night Skenes takes the mound is a reason to watch. He was as good as anybody for five months last season, and the assumption is that he will only get better.
The last time the Pirates were in the postseason was in 2015 when they lost in the wild-card round for the second consecutive season. They lost in the division series in 2013. Skenes intends to end Pittsburgh’s decade-long wait for a postseason game.
“The bar needs to be set pretty high,” Skenes told MLB.com with the 2025 season drawing near. “Not taking anything from those (2013-15) guys. The fact that that’s a golden era of recent Pirates baseball, that needs to change. We owe it to the city.”
And the splinker could get them there.
