Paul Skenes thought he was ready for the majors months ago.
Turns out, life doesn’t work like that. Or at least the Pittsburgh Pirates didn’t want it to work like that for perhaps the best pitching prospect in a generation.
Skenes understood the assignment. He embraced it as best he could across seven almost uniformly dominant starts in which he posted a 0.99 ERA, doing his best to push the wondering about when “the call” would come out of his mind.Skenes was actually napping Wednesday when manager Miguel Perez tried to break the news Skenes was going to Pittsburgh. Perez, who’s notoriously creative in finding ways to let his players know they’re moving up, opted to take a more direct approach with Skenes.
Skenes, who turned 7 that night, has no recollection of it. Then again, life has come at him so fast of late that keeping track can be difficult. “I do my best to not see any of it, but it’s unavoidable at the same time,” he said. “You’re going to have to see some of it.” Just not quickly enough for Pittsburgh to let Skenes think about reaching the 100-pitch mark, a number he hit in 12 of his 19 starts last year at LSU.It’s a process Skenes is putting his trust in, thanks in part to the way the Pirates have handled rookie right-hander Jared Jones.
The use of “October” was intentional. The Pirates didn’t draft Skenes and lavish him with a record $9.2 million signing bonus just to sell tickets . They see a player that can potentially help take the franchise places it hasn’t been in decades.
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