Skenes throws so hard, he really is an injury waiting to happen.

I think that's going to be his biggest potential enemy, rather than an early decline or pitchers figuring him out.

Interesting article about high velocity pitchers: https://www.baseballamerica.com/stor...ching-records/


It also looks like Skenes has a better profile than Hunter Greene, who also throws hard, but tends to be hittable in most starts. Greene has also lost some velocity since 2022:

The closest comparison for Skenes is Reds righthander Hunter Greene. Greene holds the crown of being the hardest-throwing starter of the Statcast era. He is the only starter with 10+ 102 mph pitches (he has 11). Greene and Yordano Ventura share the crown for the hardest fastball thrown by a true starter at 102.6 mph. (Jordan Hicks did top 103 mph in a 1.2-inning outing as an opener in 2022).

Greene has seven starts in the majors where he’s sat at 100+ mph with his fastball, much like Skenes did in his debut. But Greene’s path is a reminder that this type of velocity can be fleeting. Six of his seven starts where he sat at 100+ mph came in 2022. He had one last year and so far has none this year. Greene still throws exceptionally hard, but he now sits at 97.9 mph with his fastball compared to 98.9 in 2022 and 98.3 in 2023.
Greene currently sits with a 4.34 ERA and 1.279 WHIP over 56 career starts.

Skenes will be much better than this, provided he stays healthy.