Paul Skenes, a rookie starting pitcher, has drastically changed the Pittsburgh Pirates’ immediate and long-term prospects. This season, he has helped lead them to the postseason and appears to have what it takes to be a franchise cornerstone and one of the top starting pitchers in baseball for the foreseeable future.
Since this is his first full year of professional baseball, the one unanswered question that has plagued this season is whether or not the Pirates might think about shutting him down or capping his innings.
During his weekly appearance on 93.7 The Fan in Pittsburgh on Tuesday, Pirates manager Derek Shelton addressed that worry. He stated that the team’s intention is for Skenes to pitch throughout the season and that, if healthy, they have no intentions to shut him down.
Skenes pitched 128 minutes during the 2023 season split between LSU (NCAA) and a few spot starts in the minor leagues after being the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 Major League Baseball Draft. So far this season between Triple-A and Pittsburgh he has already logged 93.1 innings. Given how careful teams are with young pitchers arms, as well as how important Skenes is to the Pirates’ long-term outlook, it is reasonable to conclude they might like to limit him. They have already pulled him when he had a no-hitter going in two of his first 11 big league starts, including his most recent start in Milwaukee.
There is some precedent for teams shutting down young pitchers like this, as the Washington Nationals shut down Stephen Strasburg in his rookie season when the team was still competing for a playoff spot.
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