The two MLB Cy Young favorites in 2025 came from the beginnings of humble. The AS of Pittsburgh Pirates Paul Skenes began its meteoric ascent to the celebrity at Air Force Academy, while Detroit Tigers Lefty Tarik Skubal became major at the University of Seattle. None of the two places shouts the immortality of baseball, but the two launchers could flirt with historical achievements for the rest of their career provided they remain healthy.
Skenes was the recruit of the year of the 2024 National League, while Skubal won the American League Cy Young Prize last season – and their paths were recently projected as launchers starting from the stars in 2025 in Atlanta. As they go downwards with the opportunity to collect more equipment this season, ESPN has asked his teammates, team staff and Skubal and Skenes themselves which makes the two best launchers in special sport.
“Really advanced stuff and fill the typing area; they are doing well to the guys,” said Tigers starter, Casey Mize, summarizing the feelings of those who watched the two aces. “So, they are a lot to count advantageous, applying a lot of pressure. The most important thing to worry is to blow up early in the counts, so they must be good early. But it looks like when they get a strike, the stick is finished.”
“ He’s a guy you can talk to when he starts ”
The similarities between the two launchers begin with the atmosphere they generate throughout the stadium when it is their pitch turn. There is a different feeling in the clubhouse during a Skenes or Skubal day because of how the games take place when they are on the mound.
“You just know that the other team will not do much,” said Tigers’ interior field player, Zach McKinstry, when it’s a skubale day. “The defense is a bit boring this match.”
As a smiling teammate, Spencer Torkelson added: “You can almost be blindfolded playing behind him.”
The Pirates outflow, Tommy Pham, has its own way of recognizing when the AS of Pittsburgh launches. It starts when Pham dresses to come to the park.
“He carries a suit on the ground, so I started trying to follow him the” Skenes Day “, said Pham. “I call Skenes Day by wearing a suit with him, so he is not the only one.
“And we don’t normally need to score a lot of points that day.”
Despite the formal outfit of Skenes and nasty stuff, he stands out for his teammates that Skenes is always accessible when it is his day to take the mound.
“He’s a guy you can talk about when he starts,” said Pham. “I played with guys when they start, you can’t talk to them, what I think, they are bulls–but he’s not like that.”
According to the interior field player of Detroit, Skubal, presents this line. Skubal will speak to teammates as if it were any other game.
Confidence in the crafts of each launcher allows a normal day, according to the players of the two locker rooms.
Tigers also get an additional energy shock during their pennant race as they play significant games on the section: Comerica Park comes to life when their ace takes the mound.
“Each jersey you see is a jersey n ° 29,” said McKinstry. “They love him. And he likes what he is doing. And we like to play behind him.”
“ We play a defensive position, but it makes the offensive ” look like
If there is a difference between Skubal and Skenes, it is that Skubal is in attack mode more than anyone in the League. He leads MLB by launching his first throw for a strike at 70% of the time. Overall, it launches 55% of the time – good for the third in baseball.
Being in the area so often is one of the reasons why Skubal is third in the majors of the sleeves launched this season, after having finished eighth in this category last season.
“When this happens to these subsequent sleeves, you have the impression that it has a chance to go to the distance,” said the relief of tigers. “It is because it is so effective with its land.”
Skubal launched at least seven rounds in 10 departures this season, including its signing outing: a bleaching of 13 strokes against the Cleveland Guardians on May 25. This performance still resonates in the Tigers clubhouse three months later, especially after its last field recorded at 103 mi / h.
“Aggressiveness,” said Mize. “We play a defensive position, but it makes the offensive look like. He goes to everyone. He doesn’t care. This game illustrated this.”
Skenes, on the other hand, ranks 33rd as a percentage of first strike (62.1) with a complete arsenal which allows him to attack the strikers differently.
“He has a larger toolbox,” said deputy pirate pitch coach, Brent Strom. “This allows him to have weapons against different types of strikers. He launches his strength.”
According to Baseball Savant, Skenes has launched seven different types of throws this season – compared to the five of Skubal – and the percentage of Skenes strike is seventh. All of this is added to a mixture of pitch that keeps disconcerted strikers, even when obtaining grounds to strike.
“It’s complete” here it is, “strikes”, “said the receiver of the pirates Joey Bart. “He is not afraid of anyone.”
“ Everything is by figures, and it leaves nothing to chance ”
Each player, whatever the position, has a routine to prepare for competition. But Skenes is particularly unique in this regard.
One day, between departures, Pham asked to stand in the shot box while Skenes launched an enclosure session of the lifts.
“Then, the next day, I asked who threw a pen because I had to test my contact lenses,” said Pham. “And Skenes says:” Hey, I’m throwing a pen. “”
Pham gave him a confused look, knowing that Skenes had launched the day before.
“It is like” yeah, I launch every day, except the day before my departure “”, remembers Pham. “When I discovered this, I said to myself, yes, it is different. I have never seen anyone doing this.”
Strom noted that all sessions in the enclosure of the lifts are not built in the same way. There is a goal in preparation.
“His work is very organized,” said Strom. “Very thought out. Everything is by figures, and he leaves nothing to chance. He is very brain. He understands what is necessary.”
Bart recalled the first days of Skenes with the club after being called in May 2024. The recipient recognized the detailed preparation of the former LSU star, including how Skenes prepared for his very first outing against the Chicago Cubs.
“I remember the first pre-match meeting last year,” said Bart. “He directed the meeting during his beginnings. I said to myself:” Go ahead and take him, guy. You have it. “He was treated for this.”
This kind of intense and directed preparation attracted attention and admiration in the league, and this is what Skubal identified as a most impressive trait of Skenes.
“He seems to have his routine and his preparation already understood at a young age,” said Skubal. “It took me until the age of 26 to be a good Baseball player in the big league and understand that. And he does it at 23. It’s four years faster than me. Yes, it’s really impressive.”
“ He just wants to show that there is something memorable in grandeur ”
There is an aura of self -insurance for Skubal which stands out in relation to the same as other ASs, according to those around it. He was called a “bulldog” with a mentality of “killer” of his teammates: he will not back down, regardless of the circumstances.
“He comes after you,” said Torkelson. “In major situations, he trusts his best things. You know in a way what you are going to get, and it’s always difficult to hit.”
This confidence allows Skubal to get into the launcher’s count (0-1, 0-2, 1-2, 2-2) 45.7% of the time, more than any other launcher of the game, according to ESPN Research. And until you show that you can hit one of his best offers, he will continue to launch him. He has 93 stick withdrawals on his change, just behind the start of Philadelphia Phillies Cristopher Sanchez.
This state of mind is what stands out the most in Skubal in Skenes.
“He can go after the strikers,” said Skenes. “He brings them out quickly, that is why he launches deep matches. He does it better than anyone in the game. But it starts by going directly to them. It takes confidence.”
Skubal has a dominant presence, according to the advertiser Play-by-Play-By-Play Jason Benetti. This does not hurt that its size (6 feet 3 inches and 240 pounds) naturally creates a certain intimidation when it is on the mound, but it becomes known whenever it is in the game.
“The day the All-Stars were announced last year, the Tigers were in Cincinnati, and he struck [Elly] De la Cruz and there was this great primary cry – and it is this indelible memory for me, “said Benetti about Skubal.” Because he’s a guy whose people hear about it, and he wants it.
“He ends the sleeves and outings at 102 MPH because he just wants to show that there is something memorable in grandeur, it is the way I would say. He has greatness.”
