Pittsburgh Pirates ace Paul Skenes believes the velocity dip that's contributed to his subpar season is connected to his participation at the World Baseball Classic in March.
"There are a lot of other factors, so I don't want to put everything on that," Skenes told Colin Beazley of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "But I feel like that was kind of the root of it a little bit."
He added: "It definitely affected the year. Unfortunately, I don't think I'm the only one."
The reigning NL Cy Young winner logged 8 1/3 innings for Team USA during the tournament. He proceeded to record a 3.91 ERA this season after authoring a sub-2.00 ERA over the first two campaigns of his career.
Skenes' average fastball velocity dropped to 96.9 mph after sitting at 98.1 last season and 98.8 in his 2024 rookie year.
The 24-year-old acknowledged that he purposely didn't throw as hard early in the campaign. However, he wasn't able to reach his previous level as the season progressed.
"Usually, that time of year (March), you're kind of ramping up and it's a little bit slow," Skenes said. "You can kind of get onto the slope and find your body. One live (batting practice), you're topping at 97 (mph), and then the next you're 98, 99. And that wasn't the case this year."
Skenes has yet to appear in the playoffs, as the Pirates won't qualify for the postseason for an 11th straight year.
