At the beginning of the 2025 MLB season, MLB.com posted a segment about Heroes of the Game. Several MLB players are featured in this special cartoon edition.
One of the players recently featured on X in the series was Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes. Skenes is already one of the top pitchers in the National League in just his second MLB season. So what does Skenes look like in an MLB anime series?
Pittsburgh Pirates Paul Skenes Has New Pitch In MLB Anime Series
In real life, Skenes has plenty of pitches that get batters to strike out. Through his first five starts of the 2025 season, he has a 2-2 record with a 2.87 ERA. In 31.1 innings pitched, he’s allowed 21 hits and 12 runs. He’s walked only four batters and struck out 30. His WHIP is 0.80. In the MLB Anime Series, Skenes has a new pitch called the sprinkler.
The pitch looks wild in the anime. On March 26, 2025, the MLB posted on X about the series, “An anime journey featuring Shohei Ohtani, Skenes, Aaron Judge, and Juan Soto. MLB teamed up with anime artists whose credits range from One Piece to Fullmetal Alchemist and director Hiroshi Shimizu to create the films. Every scene was hand-drawn to bring to life a new world of baseball. Stay tuned for content featuring more players and surprises celebrating our Heroes of the Game.”
Seattle Mariners outfielder Julio Rodríguez was featured in the first episode of the 2025 MLB anime series on April 13. Skenes was the star of episode two. There will be nine episodes in total this season.
In Skenes’ episode, the voiceover says, “With his fingers split, and the ball sinks, it’s over.” It makes sense. Skenes doesn’t walk many hitters and racks up strikeouts. Pirates fans loved how he was animated. Some even wondered what the name of the pitch was. It could be his splitter or sinker or maybe something brand new.
Later in the series, Soto, Judge, and Ohtani are all expected to appear. Another possible name to watch for is Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Fans will see how his animation compares to Skenes if he’s included.
The MLB anime series is doing something fun and different with Skenes, Rodríguez, Soto, and others. It’s a terrific way to spotlight the game’s biggest stars.
