Paul Skenes has awesome quote about Pirates potentially unleashing him in 2025

If you're a Pittsburgh Pirates fan, you probably have just one complaint about Paul Skenes' historic rookie season – that you didn't see enough of him.

The Pirates handled the 22-year-old phenom with kid gloves since he was promoted in May from Triple-A Indianapolis, and rightly so, to preserve his longterm health as he adjusts to facing Major League batters.

Especially down the final stretch of the season, we saw Skenes being held to strict pitch counts, innings limits and longer rest periods in between starts.

He was even pulled from games on two separate occasions in the middle of a no-hit bid, inciting outrage among fans who wanted to see him finish the job. His two innings to finish the regular season against the heart of the Yankees' order were nothing short of spectacular ... but still, there were only two of them.

Such is life, though, for a young superstar who regularly hits triple digits with his fastball, boasts an arsenal with multiple punchout pitches and happens to be the best thing to happen to the Pirates franchise in decades. Skenes understands; but as hard as it was for fans to watch him get pulled early from games, it was even harder for him.

“They did a really good job for me with the plan this year,” Skenes said (via Kevin Gorman of TribLive). “I didn’t like starting in Triple-A, but the plan was … I don’t know if there can be a perfect plan, but it was just about perfectly put together. Next year, it’s, hopefully, just going to be, ‘Take the ball and pitch,’ so I’m looking forward to that.”

Skenes unleashed? This is going to be fun.

Pirates expected to lift some of Paul Skenes' pitching restrictions in 2025

But before you get your hopes up, don't expect to see Skenes start regularly pitching complete games or racking up triple-digit pitch counts. There will be fewer restrictions, yes – but there will still be restrictions.

“That’s why I’m here: I’m here to pitch, so I want to pitch as much as I can,” Skenes said (via Gorman). “If you shorten the rest period, you can pitch more as the season goes on. I’m looking forward to that. That’s not something that’s going to be a complete 180 next year from how it is this year, but there are going to be a bit fewer restrictions on me.”

So, Pirates fans, be patient; the ramp-up might be more gradual than immediate in 2025. In the meantime, we'll take as much Skenes as we can get.

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