Skenes confident of long career with high velo: 'There is no model for me'

Pittsburgh Pirates ace Paul Skenes wants to be remembered as a pitcher who had a long career while breaking velocity barriers.

"Yeah, that's the goal," Skenes told Tom Verducci of Sports Illustrated. "Nobody in the big leagues has my stuff. We're writing our own book. Because I've tried it the other way. It doesn't work. It's my game out there. There is no model for me"

The 22-year-old phenom is doing everything he can to stay healthy amid an epidemic of pitching injuries throughout baseball related to increased velocity.

"I'm trying to know more than anybody else," Skenes said. "There is an element of chance to it. There's also an element to do everything you can and know your body. And I think that a lot of people, they just don't know what they don't know. I'm trying to be the first guy to do these things, right?"

Pirates general manager Ben Cherington acknowledged that Skenes' demeanor reminds him of another MLB superstar.

"It's the combination of the quality of the pitches with an assassin's mindset," Cherington said. "He's also just really big and strong and intimidating.

"Comparisons are really dangerous  …  but I can make this one because it's less about the players but more about the people. This is what I remember about Mookie Betts. A combination of incredibly high standards, a willingness to work for those, but a deep humility in how they go about their work."

Skenes owns a 2.39 ERA with a 0.80 WHIP and 39 strikeouts over 37 2/3 innings (six starts) this year. He sits in the 95th percentile for fastball velocity in 2025 after finishing in the 99th percentile last season.