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Pittsburgh Pirates phenom Paul Skenes is coming off one of the best seasons by a rookie pitcher in Major League history, but he has already left us wanting more.
The Pirates appeared to be following a strict plan when it came to Skenes' pitch counts and innings limits during his rookie campaign in 2024, especially down the final stretch of the season. Skenes reached the 100-pitch mark nine times and threw at least 90 pitches in 18 of his 23 outings. He also pitched on at least five days of rest in every start.
However, in a recent interview John Perrotto of Pittsburgh Baseball Now, Pirates general manager Ben Cherington revealed that the "plan" for Skenes wasn't much of a plan at all.
According to Perrotto, the only two things that Cherington and manager Derek Shelton were sure of in 2024 were that Skenes would begin the season at Triple-A Indianapolis and that he would finish it in Pittsburgh.
Fast forward to September, and Skenes was finishing his first MLB season with an 11-3 record and 1.96 ERA in 23 starts and a starting nod for the National League in the All-Star Game. It feels safe to say that the Pirates' "plan" – however loose it may have been – worked out pretty well.
Ben Cherington hints at Pirates' Paul Skenes plan in latest interview
The Pirates already knew they had something special in Skenes, but now he's a proven commodity at the MLB level. So, what changes – if anything – heading into 2025?
“I don’t think we go into spring training with any sort of hard limits,” Cherington told Perrotto. “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 certainly sounds like the Pirates will give Skenes a longer leash at the start of 2025. What we don't know is how long that leash will be; and frankly, at this point, the team probably doesn't know either. Skenes is a once-in-a-generation talent, and there is no one recipe for how to manage him. The Pirates are figuring it out as they go along, and so far, it's worked out pretty well.
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