The Pirates should go with this plan to shut down Paul Skenes and save 2025 workload

Year two of Paul Skenes’ career has again lived up to the hype as the 23-year-old continues to cement his status as a top pitcher in baseball. The Pittsburgh Pirates ace has recorded a 2.03 ERA and a 0.92 WHIP with 115 strikeouts across 111 innings in 18 starts so far in 2025.

The right-hander again finds himself near the top of the league in most major statistical categories. Skenes is among the best in ERA, strikeouts and WHIP, and is near to the top in innings pitched. He also leads all pitchers with a 4.5 WAR entering play on July 2.

The numbers jump off the page on a personal level, but the Pirates continue to sit double-digit games under .500. This season will easily see Skenes carry the heaviest workload of his career in what will be a lost year. The team has been out of contention from the jump.

With that, Skenes has not had the most efficient outings over the last few weeks. Resting your young, controllable ace for two starts would be a smart move for this organization as the All-Star break approaches.

The Pirates should shut down Paul Skenes until after the All-Star break

While there are no alarm bells in the slightest going off for his on-field performance, Skenes has thrown more pitches in fewer innings than normal over his last four starts. June 13 in Chicago saw Skenes toss five shutout innings, but he threw 95 pitches and had the longest inning of his professional career at the time (35 pitches in the third).

Next was a start in Detroit on June 19. Skenes tossed six innings allowing two runs on three hits. However, he walked five and fanned nine which drove his pitch count to 105. The high walks number and multiple 20-pitch innings raise eyebrows here. The six innings pitched remains the deepest he has gone into a game in his last four starts.

The showdown in Milwaukee with Jacob Misiorowski on June 25 saw Skenes toss his season low in both innings and pitches. While there were rumors going around that he would have been limited anyway, Skenes ran into trouble in the second inning. That frame saw the righty toss 40 pitches (a new career high in a single inning) to nine different hitters. While all four runs were deemed as earned, the defense behind him did not help. Skenes tossed just four innings, allowing four runs on four hits and two walks. He threw 78 pitches.

This week’s outing against the Cardinals was more of the same. Skenes dominated over five shutout innings but worked around a decent amount of traffic. He allowed five hits and a walk while hitting a batter. He registered a pair of 20+ pitch innings as well and threw just 88 pitches.

Skenes tossed 160 1/3 total innings in 2024 with 133 of those coming with big league club. With his current pace of roughly 6 1/3 innings per start so far in 2025, he will hit that 160 1/3 innings threshold in his 26th start. If he continues to make 5-6 starts per month, that 160th inning would come sometime in early August. However, that number could easily be hit sooner with Skenes’ consistent ability to pitch deep into games.

Resting a 23-year-old arm for two starts with the addition of the All-Star break (remember, he'll probably pitch an inning in the Midsummer Classic) will allow him to return refreshed. The Pirates have the pitching depth to cover for the potential skipped starts while the team will not be competing for anything relevant in 2025. Give the young ace a rest and preserve his short- and long-term health for the good of him and the organization. The guy will continue to be elite regardless.