ALTOONA, Pa. -- Thursday was supposed to be a matchup of the top two picks in this year's amateur draft and former college teammates: Paul Skenes and Dylan Crews. That was called off earlier this week when the Pirates made the decision to place their No. 1 pick, Skenes, on the development list, ending his season.
So for those looking forward to that LSU matchup, like Skenes, it'll have to wait.
"We both know we’re gonna face each other a fair amount in the future, too," Skenes said on the field pregame Thursday. "Haven’t gotten to talk to him the last couple days. He’s actually playing, so he’s busy."
The decision to shut down Skenes wasn't because anything went wrong or because of any comments he said on AT&T SportsNet Monday. Simply put, the Pirates had boxes they wanted him to check before his first offseason as a pro -- experiencing a five-man pitching rotation, the day-to-day life, diving into some pitch design and revving up the two-seamer were a handful Ben Cherington cited Tuesday -- and once he did that, they called it a season. He didn't really need many more innings after all, considering he pitched a full season and the College World Series with LSU.
"Just getting to 130 innings, where he is, that’s kind of a high mark for any minor league pitcher we’d have," Cherington said. "If you think about it that way, he’s kind of at the top of where the work volume would be for any minor-league pitcher."
And yeah, Skenes understands the decision.
“You want to keep pitching, but also realize that it’s probably time to shut it down after a long season," Skenes said. "I took a day or two for me to process that just because it is different when you show up to the field knowing you’re not going to play. But I understand it. I’m all good with it. Just looking forward to what’s next.”
A high volume of innings and a layoff from the College World Series limited Skenes' availability in season. Cherington originally stated that Skenes was going to be capped to under 20 innings. It turned out to be just 6 2/3 innings over five outings. He struck out 10, had four scoreless outings and showed the stuff that made him the most exciting pitching draft prospect in a generation.
There's only so much Skenes could potentially develop over 6 2/3 innings, but the early returns are encouraging.
"Obviously the goal is to go out there and play, just execute," Skenes said. "I think I’ve done that really well. Transitioning from college to pro ball is different. The lifestyle is different, but obviously the play is different. But it’s been great to experience both sides of it."
It wasn't exactly the same stuff that he showed at the draft, though. The arsenal has expanded.
In college, Skenes primarily leaned on his fastball and slider. In his pro outings, he started mixing in his two-seamer, changeup and sweeper more. They were all pitches he had in college, but were very secondary. He and the Pirates thought they could be mixed in more, and they are already playing. In the case of the sinker, it's getting more consistent bite, which Skenes chalked up to reps.
"Obviously I saw him in his bullpens, but I didn’t recognize that he had such good feel for it," Curve manager Callix Crabbe said about the two-seamer. "The ability to make it move in on the righties if they’re looking for just something four-seam. That was really cool to see. Then the changeup, it’s like a perfect blend of that pitch as well. Just a couple mph slower, like 89-90. 18 inches of movement. It was really cool. He pitched."
And the plan is to continue to refine those new pitches this winter.
"We’re gonna look into my stuff, how it looked over the last few weeks," Skenes said. "But being able to use all five pitches was really nice. ... Just gonna look at how I was moving, how I performed and how my stuff performed. Make a plan to go into the offseason with."
Skenes' focus is on the offseason, but the Pirates' extends a bit further down the road. Skenes' professional innings were only part of the plan to get him ready for 2024, which is shaping up to be the safe bet for his MLB debut.
"Since we signed him, we had talked about working backward from April 2024 and designing this in preparation for that," Cherington said.
April 2024 is going to be a very interesting month for Skenes. There's a case to be made that he could be ready for the majors by opening day next year, though it is far from guaranteed that the Pirates would even seriously consider promoting their top prospect that quickly.
So is Skenes' goal to be in the Pirates' opening day rotation?
"My goal is tomorrow, but that’s not going to happen," Skenes joked. "I want to get there as as soon as possible. That’s why this offseason is so important to prepare myself physically and mentally to do that challenge. I want to win at the highest level. I’ve seen a lot of the guys that are in this organization and see the people that are in the big leagues right now. I feel -- and I think a lot of people feel -- that we have an opportunity to win very soon. If I can contribute to that opening day, I want to do that. I also realize that the club has their plans for me. It’s all going to work out in the end."
