For the second-straight season, the Pittsburgh Pirates started off hot but have begun to cool off.
After setting the early pace in the National League Central, the team has begun to sink. A sweep at the hands of the New York Mets last week was followed with an 8-1 loss to the Boston Red Sox on Friday night.
While the Pittsburgh Pirates have won just three of their last 10 games, and the club’s pitching staff has been battered twice in a row, the organization is resisting the urge to call up its top pitching prospect who has been nearly unhittable at Triple-A Indianapolis so far.
Paul Skenes, the No. 1 pick of the 2023 MLB June Amateur Draft, isn’t getting his call to the majors just yet — despite a 0.00 ERA through four minor-league starts this April.
Pittsburgh Pirates Say Skenes has ‘Steps he Needs to Make’
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The Pittsburgh Pirates are still holding off on calling Skenes up less than a year after he was drafted. The 21-year-old somehow still doesn’t have a win with Indianapolis, but his numbers through four starts are the stuff of legend.
Skenes has baffled Triple-A hitters to the tune of a 0.00 ERA, 27 strikeouts, a 0.71 WHIP, and an opponent’s batting average of just .116. However, it has still been a tremendously small sample size, with Skenes having thrown just 12-2/3 innings overall.
Looking towards the future rather than trying to seek immediate gains, the Pittsburgh Pirates still plan to bring Skenes along slowly despite him already pitching one rung below MLB. General manager Ben Cherington said as much during an interview on Pittsburgh radio station KDKA:
“With Paul, we’ve been very intentional about how we’re building his volume coming into the season with a goal of really accomplishing two things. One is to try to get him to an appropriate total volume for 2024 coming off last year, when he pitched a full college season and then just a little bit of pro ball.”
Skenes Blitzed Through Pittsburgh Pirates System in 2023
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Skenes shot through three levels of the Pittsburgh Pirates minor-league system after being drafted last summer. He made just one start — pitching a lone inning — at the organization’s rookie-level team before moving up to Single-A Bradenton.
After two brief, scoreless starts at Bradenton, Skenes ascended to Double-A Altoona. It was there that Skenes allowed the only runs that he has in the minors so far. In his Altoona debut, he gave up four earned runs in just 2/3 of an inning. The next start, he was back to his scoreless ways to end the season. After spring training this March, Skenes was sent to Triple-A.
All told, Skenes has a 1.86 ERA in nine minor-league starts. However, his 0-0 record points to the overall brevity of his experience in the minors. Through four levels, he still has only 19.1 professional innings under his belt. This speaks to the Pittsburgh Pirates’ eased development of him, despite the meteoric rise of MLB’s No. 3 overall prospect. As Cherington told KDKA:
“We don’t want to go from zero to 100 right away. Paul’s so important to us long term, so we want to be really thoughtful about that.”
So, don’t look for Skenes to be taking the mound at PNC Park anytime soon.
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Tom Carothers is a sportswriter with more than 20 years of experience covering sports at the high school, collegiate, and professional levels. Still longing for the return of his Minnesota North Stars, he has a high pain tolerance as a big fan of the Chicago Cubs, Cleveland Browns, and Tottenham Hotspur.
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