One-on-one: Skenes talks historic rookie year, adjusting, expectations

CHICAGO -- Paul Skenes has made a habit of making things look easier than they should be. 

Whether he's pounding away or poking and prodding without his best stuff, he's found ways to adapt, as was the case again Tuesday night at Wrigley Field in the Pirates' 5-0 blanking of the Cubs, in which he loaded the bases each of the first two innings amid a lack of command and would last only five ... and still post nothing but zeroes.

Six strikeouts, too:

How did he do it?

He threw 19 changeups after having thrown 60 all season:

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"The thing that you see is that he doesn't let things affect him," Derek Shelton said afterward. "He had the bases loaded in the first couple innings and, a lot of times with young players, you see them kind of lose themselves. He stays composed. He, executed, made pitches. He’s going to have to grind at times, as talented as he is. And today was one of those. He had to grind, and he did a nice job."

That's not the norm for a 22-year-old, to say the least. But then, neither is starting in the All-Star Game. Nor is leading Major League Baseball since his May 11 arrival with a 2.13 ERA. Nor is a 9-2 record, a 0.98 WHIP and 142 strikeouts over 114 innings.

I spent extra time with Skenes after this one and asked him about a handful of larger-scope subjects:

• On his season to date: "Really just trying to go out there and learn every outing. Obviously, I want to go out there and pitch well, but another goal is to go out there and learn as much as possible for this year as well as going forward." 

• On the difference in facing big-league hitters and, in particular, these Cubs for the fourth time already: "Figuring out how to grind through it, get outs and pitch at a high level against guys I'm going to see a lot, that's part of that learning process. That's what got me here, just being able to use all my weapons, trusting them and being able to go out there and execute. It's the same game. Just the people change if you allow them to change. One of my goals as I came into pro ball and the big leagues was to stay me and maintain my identity as a pitcher because the stuff doesn't need to change and the execution doesn't need to change. It's just little things within the game that need to change." 

• On what he's learned about himself, a point I raised that initially brought a long pause: "Every outing is a challenge, but also showing up every day and working over the course of the season is something that got me here. The work and being able to lock it in and hook it up for three hours a day to do very intentional work. It's tough over the course of a 162-game season, and it's a year-long thing, so that's the thing I've learned the most. I'm going to stop playing this game when I stop working how I do. That's something I know about myself. That hasn't changed. The work hasn't changed throughout the year."

• On whether he's proven anything to anyone: "I don't listen to what other people think. I don't care what other people think outside of this locker room and the people who are actually speaking to me. I don't look at the other stuff, so I don't know what the expectations are for everybody else. But just being able to attack challenges and see what I'm made of ... a lot of that's in the work, too. Stuff that everybody doesn't see. The play on the field speaks for itself in a lot of ways, but I think being able to show up and put in the work is something I've proven to myself."

Skenes' earlier, full media session:

The game highlights:

More on the game in our Pirates Feed.