Pirates Superstar Planning To Take On Larger Role in Clubhouse

There was optimism about the Pittsburgh Pirates’ future during PiratesFest this weekend.

Pittsburgh finished with a 76-86 record last season but took strides in the right direction and was in the race for a playoff spot for most of the season. The optimism at PiratesFest was directed toward the starting rotation and superstar Paul Skenes consistently.

It’s not surprising the organization is optimistic, with a talented player like Skenes leading the rotation. He won the National League Rookie of the Year Award after going 11-3 with a 1.96 ERA and setting a franchise rookie record with 170 strikeouts.

After a historic rookie season, Skenes is ready to step up and take on a larger role in the clubhouse, as transcribed by MLB.com’s Alex Stumpf.

“The nature of pro locker rooms compared to college locker rooms is just going to be different, so I learned a lot about how a pro locker room is last year,” Skenes said. “But I’ve also learned — (from) the experience of last year and talking to guys this offseason who have won World Series and played for 15 years in The Show, that kind of thing — about how a locker room should be, too, so we’re going to work on getting it there, and we’ve started already.”

“I don’t know what the character of that will be, but I’ll have probably a little more say — and obviously having established myself a little bit — but there’s still a long way to go. I’m not going to overstep, but winning is winning. We’ve got to do what we’ve got to do to make it happen.”

The Pirates clubhouse was good last season, but as the face of the franchise, it makes sense that Skenes would take on a larger role in the clubhouse. Pittsburgh has a lot to look forward to in the 2025 season.

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