This wild stat paints fearsome picture of Pirates' rookie pitchers

Yes, that's correct. Skenes and Jones have thrown the 13 fastest pitches in MLB this season. The two flamethrowers are anchors at the top of the Pirates rotation and give the franchise a remarkably bright future.

On Tuesday, Jones pitched six scoreless innings in a 1-0 win over the NL West-leading Dodgers. He blew past designated hitter Shohei Ohtani with a 101-mph four-seamer for one of his six strikeouts.

In 12 starts, Jones has a 3.25 earned run average (ERA) with 76 strikeouts in 69.1 innings pitched. Per Baseball Reference, among qualifying pitchers, Jones ranks first in swinging-strike rate (26 percent) and rarely falls behind batters. He is second in the rate of 0-2 counts seen (37.2 percent) and fourth in the lowest percentage of 3-0 counts surrendered (1.4 percent).

Skenes, the No. 1 overall pick in last year's MLB Draft, has somehow been even more dominant. He's 2-0 in his four starts (22 innings pitched) with a 2.45 ERA and 30 strikeouts.

Baseball America recently named Skenes the top prospect in baseball while noting his ranks in several key pitching metrics. Among all starting pitchers, Skenes is fourth in strikeout rate (35.7 percent), second in expected fielding independent pitching (2.07) and in the top 20 in walks and hits allowed per inning pitched (WHIP) (0.91).

On Wednesday, Skenes is scheduled to make his fifth MLB start in a must-see showdown with Ohtani and the Dodgers.