Paul Skenes’ upcoming departure has been postponed

Paul Skenes isn't doing badly this year. But let's just say no one expects him to win the Cy Young Award again.

After a rough start in March and an excellent first half of the season, the pitcher is losing his edge.

Why? Everything suggests it's not just because hitters have adjusted to him—though that's surely part of the equation.

In fact, his loss of velocity shows us that we really need to start worrying about the pitcher. Is he hiding an injury?

But here's another telltale sign that we should be concerned about the pitcher: he won't be pitching today, as scheduled. And that's even though he wanted to pitch.

His manager has decided to push back his start to Wednesday to give him a little more rest so he'll be ready.

The Pirates are 6.5 games out of the playoffs, and they're resting one of the best players on the planet. That's fine, since his health is important.

But this shows us that the situation is a lot more serious than the Pirates are trying to make us believe.

It's their job to try to make us believe that everything is fine, and that's perfectly fine. But you don't have to read between the lines to understand that the situation is concerning.

A pitcher throwing at that velocity is clearly at risk of an elbow injury. Let's hope that's not what's in store for Skenes.

Created by humans, assisted by AI.