The Pittsburgh Pirates struck a gold mine in picking superstar phenom pitcher Paul Skenes with the first pick in the Major League Baseball draft.
Skenes got called up to the big leagues in May and has electrified the league since. He made 23 starts in the 2024 season, going 11-3 with an astonishing 1.96 ERA. Skenes struck out 170 batters on the season, with a blistering 5.31 strikeout-to-walk ratio. He also had multiple starts where he did not allow a hit on the season but got pulled mid-game and threw only 133 innings.
Pittsburgh’s General Manager Ben Cherington commented on the Pirates not having intentions of limiting Skenes in the 2025 season, according to John Perrotto of Pittsburgh Baseball Now.
“I don’t think we go into spring training with any sort of hard limits,” Cherington said. “I think we always will need to keep assessing over the course of the season just in terms of how guys are holding up and recovery and how the pitch qualities are trending and all that and make real-time decisions inside a decision if we feel guys need a blow or a break.”
It’s promising that the Pirates are prepared to unleash Skenes right from the start of the season, but things could change as the season progresses. Skenes will lead a great starting rotation with Mitch Keller and Jared Jones. Pittsburgh missed their chance to make the playoffs this year and will look to make it next year with their pitching leading the team.
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