Paul Skenes: Performance Struggles Amid Controversy and Criticism

Because the amount of heat and the amount of negativity around Paul Skeens right now. I mean, this guy is still a really good pitcher. The velocity is down. We've talked about that already on this show about what is wrong with Paul Skeens. What's wrong with him? The velocity is down. Clearly, he's not throwing 100 consistently anymore. Is that a shoulder injury? Is he tired? Is he not in shape? Whatever reason you want to come up with. He has not been as dominant of a pitcher power-wise as he was the first two years in Major League Baseball with the Pirates. So maybe he has to become a smarter pitcher. He's still throwing 95, 97 miles per hour. He's just not going 100, 101 consistently like he was during the first two years. There was always that conversation about what exactly things are going and what exactly is happening around Paul Skeens and what's happening with just his arm, saying most power pitchers end up having Tommy John because they throw so much in college. He was used a ton by LSU. And then he goes and becomes the number one pick overall. He rockets through the minor leagues, gets up with the Pirates, and he is right away pitching. He might be hurt. It's possible. He's battling through it and not talking about it. And he's one of these athletes that people built up and they were all about him and they loved him. And then the Libby Dunn stuff really started to come around. And now it's Libby Dunn. He's a fat slob and he's out of shape and she's to blame and he doesn't care because he's getting paid and they're making all this money in social media and she's the highest paid influencer in the world and blah, blah, blah, right? Just a bunch of nasty, negative crap around Paul Skeens. When I was looking at the numbers today, I was like, it just feels like this is a Paul Skeens, give me the baseball and shut up type start.