Paul Skenes cools off Pirates buzz with blunt message

Pirates fans are watching the early spring storylines form and letting the excitement jump a few months ahead. It’s natural when Paul Skenes is involved, because he changes what “believe” even means. But Skenes himself is more interested in finding out what the Pirates actually are than giving in to any February hype.

That mindset came through immediately when pitchers and catchers officially reported and Skenes met with the media. In a spring training dispatch from Colin Beazley of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, he didn’t downplay the ceiling. If anything, he named it out loud — and then put a warning label on it. 

“There’s nothing stopping us from being — call it whatever you want — the best group we can be, the best group in baseball, whatever,” Skenes said Wednesday. “The only thing that’s going to get in our way is ourselves.”

That’s not the kind of quote that exists to feed preseason optimism. It’s the kind that forces a team to look in the mirror.

Pirates’ optimism meets Paul Skenes’ blunt, team-first standard

The Pirates’ “best group in baseball” case is easy to see in February. The rotation has star power. The staff has depth. Skenes at the front changes series math and puts real pressure on opponents before they even set a lineup. 

But “ourselves” is the part that should hit Pittsburgh fans the hardest, because it’s also the part that has haunted this franchise for years. It’s not always talent that derails teams like the Pirates. It’s the sloppy week in the field that snowballs. It’s the month where the lineup turns every game into a one-run grind and the pitching has to be perfect to survive.

That’s why Skenes’ bluntness lands as both a buzz-kill and a challenge. He’s basically saying the excuses are already off the table. If the Pirates have the arms to be elite, then the rest of the roster has to stop treating two or three runs like the finish line. Great pitching can drag you into relevance, but it can’t carry you through a full season if the offense disappears in pockets.

None of this is Skenes being cold or detached from the moment. He sounded genuinely excited about being back in it, especially with how quickly the clubhouse filled up.

“That’s always good to see,” Skenes said. “We had a good group this weekend, but first day is always fun. So it’s nice to be back.” 

It also helps explain why the individual accolades don’t seem to be the point anymore. Skenes has already checked the personal boxes that most pitchers spend careers chasing. Now the only box that matters is October. That’s where Don Kelly’s framing hits like the final stamp.

“When you say he wants to be great, the personal stuff is secondary,” Kelly said. “Paul Skenes wants to win, and that’s what drives him every single day. He wants to go out and win and he wants to be great. When you talk about him as a competitor, it’s hard to say what can push him even further."

Nobody is going to push Paul Skenes as hard as he pushes himself. And he works like that every single day.” If you’re looking for the clearest sign the Pirates might actually be growing up, it’s that their ace isn’t chasing hype — he’s chasing standards, and he’s already daring the rest of the roster to meet them.