Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes has received a rather frightening prediction before the 2026 MLB season.
Pittsburgh Pirates ace Paul Skenes has already established himself as one of the very top pitchers in all of baseball, so there isn't much left for him to prove from a talent standpoint.
We know the kid is a stud.
However, Skenes has only actually pitched one full season in the big leagues thus far, and last year, he pitched to the tune of a 1.97 ERA while allowing 136 hits and racking up 216 strikeouts over 187.2 innings of work.
Can Skenes somehow improve upon that in 2026?
It's a tall order, but there is one area in which ESPN's Jeff Passan feels that Skenes will have even gaudier numbers this season: innings pitched.
Passan went as far to predict that the right-hander will lead the majors in frames, which certainly is a scary thought for Pirates fans.
"The Pirates have been careful with Skenes over his two seasons, and understandably so. He is the most talented player in the organization since Barry Bonds," Passan wrote. "At the same time, everything about him -- his mentality, his body, his understanding of the game -- is built for him to turn into a classic workhorse."
Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes. Credit: Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images.That may be true, but in an era of baseball where young pitchers are going down with injuries left, right and center, the idea of Skenes rattling off over 200 innings is a frightening proposition.
"As long as he's healthy, 200 innings is well within reach," Passan added. "Nobody got to 210 in the past two seasons, so it's a decent over/under mark to set for Skenes, who needs to be slightly more pitch-efficient to make either a reality."
It's hard to be more efficient than Skenes, who averaged just two walks per nine innings in 2025 and posted a 5.14 K/BB en route to winning the NL Cy Young award.
But will Pittsburgh actually stretch out Skenes so much that he will end up being the MLB's innings leader?
I guess it's possible, particularly if the Pirates are in contention, but it's also imperative that Pittsburgh treats Skenes with the utmost care heading into his second full and his third big-league campaign overall.
Skenes made his debut in 2024, making 23 starts and recording a sparkling 1.96 ERA to win the NL Rookie of the Year award.
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