The toughest players to rank at starting pitcher for 2027: Garrett Crochet’s upside comes with major risk

What are we supposed to do with Paul Skenes? Through June of this season, he was just about the best young pitcher we'd seen since Dwight Gooden 40 years ago. But over his past 15 starts, he has a 5.06 ERA, with declining velocity to go along with mediocre (at best) production.

My typical inclination is to give Skenes the benefit of the doubt. Sure, I wouldn't want to rank him as a top-three SP like I was coming into the season, but given the much longer track record of him as one of the best pitchers in baseball, he deserves some benefit of the doubt, right?

I think so. I certainly won't rank him as if he's a 5.00-plus ERA pitcher. But man, it just doesn't feel like this is a normal slump. Skenes admitted to tweaking his mechanics throughout the season to try to rediscover his old form, and nothing seems to have helped much. He had a stretch in August where it looked like he might be figuring things out, but then he allowed five runs in his most recent start last week against the Royals of all teams. He has one start with more than five…

Original source: https://www.cbssports.com/