How Pirates All-Star rookie RHP Paul Skenes developed his splinker into a 'devastating' pitch

Only after he was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates last July did Paul Skenes start toying with a new pitch, one that has been called everything from dirty and disgusting to filthy and nasty to just plain “gross.”

Now that the 22-year-old rookie pitcher has become the first player selected to the All-Star Game the year after being picked No. 1 overall in the MLB Draft, how Skenes tinkered to develop a splinker that might be best described as “devastating” is becoming one of baseball’s biggest stories.

The splinker, a hybrid between a split-finger fastball and a sinker, has become a pitch with a 27.7% putaway rate for Skenes, per Statcast, as opposing hitters are batting .181 (13 for 72) with 18 strikeouts against the splinker that has a 30.1% whiff rate and 23.1% strikeout rate. The 6-foot-6, 260-pound right-hander uses the splinker to get weak contact and groundouts. Of the 54 batted ball events it has generated, Skenes has allowed 10 singles and only three extra-base hits — all doubles — for a .222 slugging percentage.

“That’s been nice to be able to use it as a weapon and get guys out,” Skenes told TribLive. “There’s no book on it, necessarily. We’re writing the book on it as we go along, just trusting it.”

Hitters are learning that they can’t trust their eyes. Skenes throws the splinker, which averages 94.2 mph, with a two-seam grip but from the same arm angle and release point as his four-seam fastball that averages 99.2 and regularly tops triple digits.

By the time they discern the difference, it’s too late.

“It tunnels the same, and it just drops. It just loses gravity and goes,” Pirates catcher Joey Bart said. “It looks like a fastball, then does its thing at the last second. Yeah, it’s devastating.

“When you’re a hitter in there and you know a guy’s got something funky like that, it’s hard to sell out. Even a guy that has a 100 mph fastball, you’ve got to be ready to hit. If he drops this other pitch in there, you get to a spot where you don’t really know what to look for. You get ready to hit the best fastball and react to whatever else comes. If you took that pitch out of his arsenal, I still think he’d be elite. But that pitch really sets him apart to be who he is.”

Paul Skenes, 93mph Splinker (ball) and 100mph Painted Fastball (backwards K), Individual Pitches + Overlay.

Why you might take that painted fastball. pic.twitter.com/BUWJQYQG1F

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) June 18, 2024

What makes Skenes’ success with the splinker almost unbelievable is he only started throwing it last summer in the minor leagues after signing for a draft-record $9.2 million bonus.

Skenes relied primarily on his four-seam fastball and slider in leading LSU to the College World Series championship but wanted to expand his pitch repertoire by adding a sinker. After trying some different cues to get it off his fingers, he found one that worked and ran with it. When he threw the splinker against hitters and saw their reaction to it, Skenes realized he might have stumbled onto something special.

“Even during spring training, we didn’t know exactly what we had. I was just trying to find the identity of that pitch and how we were going to use it,” Skenes said. “We just had to figure out exactly when to use it because sinkers are primarily a right-on-right pitch. You can classify it as a sinker or you can classify it as a splitter, but it’s a different characteristic, either way. We were figuring out how aggressive to be with it to both sides and how I was going to pitch with it.”

Pirates catcher Henry Davis, the 2021 No. 1 overall pick, spent the offseason catching Skenes at the team’s Pirate City training complex in Bradenton, Fla. After Skenes mixed four pitches in his spring training debut against the Baltimore Orioles, Davis revealed that Skenes didn’t show his newest offering that he had difficulty describing.

“I don’t know what it is,” Davis said, “but it’s gross.”

The term “splinker” was coined to describe Minnesota Twins closer Jhoan Duran’s splitter-sinker hybrid that he throws in the triple digits, something Skenes wants to work on this offseason to increase its velocity.

“The way he holds it, I think, is different,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said after Skenes had nine strikeouts in a 10-2 win at the Detroit Tigers on May 29. “I think that’s why it has a really cool niche name.”

Paul Skenes, Splinker Release (Slow) pic.twitter.com/dECNpLjmzj

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) May 29, 2024

Skenes said he uses a traditional grip on the seams and that the key is “just ripping it, trusting my body and throwing it.” Even so, Skenes’ splinker has left his Pirates teammates in wide-eyed wonder, even those who throw the more traditional pitches he combines.

Pirates two-time All-Star closer David Bednar learned the split-finger fastball from Hideo Nomo, the 1995 NL Rookie of the Year, and made a variation on the grip. While Bednar said he hasn’t spoken much with Skenes about grips, he’s impressed with how he’s able to throw the splinker in the strike zone along with his four-seam fastball.

“I just watch him throw it with that same conviction as the heater, and it obviously plays off the heater just as well,” Bednar said. “I think everyone is a little bit different. That’s what makes pitching so great. You see what guys are having success with, and you apply it your own way to make your repertoire better. It’s impressive. It’s a good pitch. It’s cool to see him continue to have success with it.”

Paul Skenes, Ridiculous 96mph Splinker. ???? pic.twitter.com/eWbZ6wGBRW

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) May 29, 2024

Where Pirates sinkerballer Colin Holderman throws his two-seamer for more east-west break, he sees how Skenes’ splinker has more vertical drop that tumbles. What makes the pitch work for Skenes is how it plays against both righties and lefties.

“Oh yeah. You can’t just sit location, can’t sit direction,” Holderman said. “It makes it really hard, especially when you have stuff like he does. Everything’s elite. You can’t sit on anything, so it makes it really hard to pigeonhole somebody into a location. … I know it’s effective, and it’s nasty. I see the metrics come up on the board every time he throws it, so I think he should throw it a lot.”

Skenes has increased his usage of the splinker over the past month from 20 times (compared to 47 four-seamers) against the Los Angeles Dodgers on June 5 to 26 times at the St. Louis Cardinals on June 11 to 28 times against the Cincinnati Reds on June 17 to 31 times against the Tampa Bay Rays on June 23 to 34 times (compared to 31 four-seamers) at the Atlanta Braves on June 29.

His next start is Thursday afternoon in the series finale at the Milwaukee Brewers.

That Skenes balances the fastball and splinker with a slider, curveball and changeup in the mid-80s gives him an advanced arsenal and allows him to rely on other offerings when one of the pitches isn’t working.

“Once everything’s on, it’s like a joystick, right?” Pirates catcher Yasmani Grandal said after Skenes had eight strikeouts against the Dodgers, fanning MVPs Mookie Betts, Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman. “You’ve got so many options, you can just call whatever you want. But it shows that he can get through a lineup with just his fastball.”

Before facing Skenes on Friday at PNC Park, New York Mets manager Carlos Mendoza predicted his players would be watching Skenes from the top step of the dugout out of curiosity to see his mound presence and how his stuff plays live, especially the splinker.

Paul Skenes, Sinister 94mph Splinker. ????

7th K pic.twitter.com/UUg6UxQhq6

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) May 29, 2024

Skenes threw it 34 times, often on the first pitch and only once fewer than his four-seamer. The splinker generated five whiffs, six balls in play and eight fouls on 19 swings, along with six called strikes in recording eight strikeouts over seven innings in the 14-2 win.

“The movement and (how) he throws it hard, it plays almost like a two-seam,” Mendoza said. “He’s a plus-fastball from a weird angle that goes up to 100, then you get a pitch that’s got so much sink to it and it’s 93-94 and he uses it to get ground balls. That’s a pretty good combination there.”

It’s a combination that Skenes is throwing with command, confidence and conviction. He learned to trust his splinker and is attacking hitters with it, something he can’t wait to do in the All-Star Game. Skenes knows there’s no need be an overthinker with the splinker.

“I’m going to go out there and pitch like I know how to,” Skenes said. “Nothing is different. It’s the game: my stuff against their stuff. I’m just going to beat them with my stuff.”