Paul Skenes Forced to Change Tune on MLB’s Robot Umpire Months After Bitter Experience

A year ago, Paul Skenes preferred to have more of a human element in baseball. He shared how pitchers think every throw is a strike, only to be overturned by ABS. However, last year, ABS was in Triple-A and had yet to be implemented in MLB. And now that the ABS challenge has been officially rolled out, Skenes seems to have a different opinion, despite having a bitter experience in February.

“I wanna say last year I had more pitches in the zone get called balls against me than pitches that were balls get called strikes,” Skenes said via Pat McAfee Show. “So, now I’m all for it. I’ve totally flipped my stance on it. I’m all for it. It’s great,”

Now, that is an entirely different stance from what Skenes had a year ago. “I really do like the human element of the game. I think this is one of those things that you kind of think umpires are great until they’re not. And so I could kind of care less, either way, to be honest,” he said last year.

So, it comes as a welcoming surprise as Skenes is now rallying behind ABS. But there’s a reason behind his changed stance.

“I’ve changed my stance on it

I’m all for ABS and it’s great” ~ @Paul_Skenes #PMSLive https://t.co/MPB47FbffJ pic.twitter.com/xpCnHuvkM3

— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) April 2, 2026

This year, ABS has already proved effective in identifying the wrong calls. For example, on Wednesday, Orioles catcher Samuel Basallo challenged the umpire’s ball call on Albaret Suarez’s pitch. The call was overturned to a strike, which led to a game-winning strikeout against the Rangers. Then, in a game between the Red Sox and the Reds, umpire CB Bucknor’s six calls got overturned by ABS.

Yes, not all calls are going for the pitcher, but Skenes already had the experience of how blown calls could feel.

Paul Skenes debuted in May 2024, and in his second career MLB start, he faced umpire Brian O’Nora against the Cubs. With Skenes’s velocity and sliders from the mound, the umpire clearly struggled and finished the game with a 84.8% accuracy. This low accuracy rate was the result of several poor decisions, including some close calls and obvious strikes that were ruled as balls. In that game, Skenes had to throw a few extra pitches due to these missed calls.

So, Skenes is now all set to rally behind ABS, but his first experience with ABS didn’t go that well.

In February, during his first spring start, Skenes struck out four and walked four against the Braves. However, all four strikes were overturned to balls as the Braves challenged.

“Today, that’s how it is. I’ve just got to adjust,” Skenes said back then. “I think it will even out over the course of the season, but ask me in June.”

Well, it’s just April, and Skenes seems all fine with ABS.

Paul Skenes bounces back after opening day disaster

It seems like Skenes has successfully adjusted to the ABS challenge system. In this second start of the season against the Reds, he allowed just 1 run with 5 SOs from 5 innings. That’s typical Skenes-like dominance at the mound.

Skenes started by walking Cincinnati’s TJ Friedl, then retired eight straight, including three strikeouts. And after Nathaniel Lowe had an RBI double off Skenes, it ended a record-breaking run of the right-hander.

Before Lowe’s RBI, Skenes had a 31-inning scoreless streak against the Reds. That was the fourth-longest by a Pirates pitcher against an opponent since 1961.

So, fortunately, this time ABS didn’t come in his way.

Now, this performance was expected after how Paul Skenes faced disaster in his opening game. Due to Oneil Cruz’s consecutive defensive blunders, Skenes had his shortest outing in MLB, finishing with 0.2 innings.

In that outing, he gave up five runs with just one SO. Even after recording a win in his second start, Skenes’ ERA currently stands at 9.53!

That opening stumble was rare for Skenes. Now that he is regaining his rhythm and adapting to the nuances of the ABS, expect to see his trademark dominance return to the mound.

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