Cutters are Hard: Paul Skenes & Tarik Skubal

About this episode

Jeff Passan interviews Cy Young winners Tarik Skubal and Paul Skenes about the intricacies of pitching and the challenges of hitting in MLB.

It’s the inaugural episode of Sources Tell with Jeff Passan — and he’s starting big. Jeff sits down with reigning Cy Young winners Tarik Skubal and Paul Skenes for an honest, inside-the-mind-of-an-ace conversation. They break down the art of pitching, their go-to weapons, and how they know when they’re completely locked in. Plus, they settle the debate: what’s harder — pitching or hitting in MLB? (0:00) Welcome to the show! (3:20) What’s harder, hitting or pitching? (6:15) Easiest pitch to throw (10:35) Velocity or control? (12:35) When you know you have command (15:25) Paul’s demeanor vs Tarik’s emotions (18:45) College careers (19:45) Pitchers developing later in career (20:45) Me vs. me (23:55) Spa days (25:35) Tarik’s complete game (29:25) Rounding up (30:30) Paul’s complete game loss (31:38) Failure (34:10) Favorite mound visit (35:10) Paul launching sweeper out of the stadium (37:55) Best pitch in baseball (40:25) Cutters are hard (41:00) Future of pitching (44:55) And the verdict is… Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

People in this episode

Host: Jeff Passan

Guests: Tarik Skubal, Paul Skenes

Topics covered

• pitching
• hitting
• MLB
• Cy Young
• baseball
• athlete mindset

Keywords

• pitching
• hitting
• Cy Young
• MLB
• baseball
• athlete mindset
• pitch types
• command
• velocity
• control

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: ESPN, Omaha Productions

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