PITTSBURGH — During his weekly radio show on 93.7 The Fan, Pirates general manager Ben Cherington spoke at length on Paul Skenes.
Skenes was scheduled to start for the Pirates on Sunday agaisnt the Red Sox, but manager Don Kelly announced after Saturday’s game that he’s being pushed back to Wednesday against the Tigers.
“Paul wanted to make the start today. He articulated that to us. … We just made a determination as we got into yesterday, based upon all the information that we had, that it would be prudent and the right thing to give him a little extra recovery this time around [and] push him to Wednesday,” Cherington explained. “That hopefully helps him, because he is working through things that guys work through this time of year. It also has the benefit of maybe buying some extra time for some others.”
Skenes has been in the midst of his most challenging season of his three-year big-league career. The reigning National League Cy Young winner is 9-11 with a 3.88 ERA in 25 starts.
Dating back to his start against the Phillies on May 17, Skenes is 3-9 with a 5.00 ERA in 16 starts, and the Pirates are 3-13 in those games. Over his past nine starts, he’s posted a 5.79 ERA, having allowed at least four runs in four of those starts.
“This seems relatively usual for me. Given everything that he’s accomplished like other elite starting pitchers before him,” Cherington said of Skenes, citing all he’s done dating back to the 2023 College World Series with LSU. “There are gonna be stretches he’s just grinding a little bit more. That’s not atypical. Our job is to help him get through this period in a way that’s safe and effective for him.”
Despite his struggles and a well-documented drop in velocity, Cherington said that Skenes is healthy other than the normal wear and tear felt by players this time of year.
“There’s no indication, no information we have, that suggests that — that he’s hurt or there’s an injury,” said Cherington. “He doesn’t believe that. We don’t see that based upon the information we have.”
While Skenes’ ERA is nearly two full points higher than it was through the first two seasons of his career, some of the underlying metrics paint a different picture. Cherington believes those numbers show Skenes is still performing at a high level.
“I would say it would have been expected at some point that you’re going to see some stretch where you’re kind of grinding through it a little bit, and that’s what he is,” said Cherington.
“And with that said, he’s still been one of the best starting pitchers in the National League this year. He’s among the league leaders in strikeouts. His strikeout and walk rates are exactly where they’ve been in the past and he’s on pace for a 4-5 win season for a starting pitcher. This has been an excellent year for him. And, like other elite pitchers, there’s going to be small stretches of time where it just doesn’t feel or come together quite the way it does at other times. I am certainly — we are betting on Paul to work through this period, like he does everything else, and come out the other side. We’re very lucky he’s a Pirate, that’s for sure.”
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