Last year, the Pittsburgh Pirates selected pitcher Paul Skenes first overall in the draft. He flew through the minors and is dominating Triple-A, leading Pirate fans to wonder when he will pitch at PNC Park.
Skenes is one of the most highly regarded prospects in baseball and he is on the edge of getting called up to the majors. Many people thought that he had a chance to get called up last year, as some teams did with their first-round picks, such as the Angels and Nolan Schanuel.
But that was not the case for Skenes. He made it to Double-A last year and with his performances in spring training, he found himself starting with the Indianapolis Indians, the Triple-A affiliate of the Pirates.
Through seven games this year, Skenes has pitched 27.1 innings with a 0.99 ERA and 45 strikeouts. He leads all of Triple-A in ERA and is in second place in strikeouts, behind Orioles prospect Cade Povich. Clearly, he deserves a shot in the major leagues.
The Pirates are not doing amazingly well right now, as they are in third place in their division and five games behind first. They are losing games, but it is not because of their pitching.
Their rotation consists of 2023 All-Star Mitch Keller, Martin Perez, Jared Jones, Bailey Falter, and Quinn Priester. None of them are doing badly, but if Skenes comes up he would replace Priester, who is only in the rotation because of an injured Marco Gonzales.
There are rumors going around that he would debut for the Pirates this weekend and there is a good chance that will prove true. If not, the earliest that Skenes will come up is in two weeks against the Giants, because the Pirates will most likely want him to make his debut at their home stadium.
Skenes is a great pitcher and would help the Pirates out a lot. But he will not help the Pirates win games until the team’s offense picks it up.
