PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – It’s not because Paul Skenes gave up his first earned run Wednesday afternoon and he’s being demoted. Pirates GM Ben Cherington kept with a common theme of needing more work in the minors.
Through five starts in the minors now, the 6’6”, 235-pound right-hander has a 0.53 ERA over 17 innings with five walks and 34 strikeouts. In his latest start on Wednesday afternoon, he went a season-high 4.1 innings giving up five hits, two runs, one earned, one walk and seven strikeouts.
“We see the pitch-mix coming into form,” Cherington said Wednesday. “Working on efficiency, when he’s using the secondary and starting to build the pitch count up now. Not surprised that he’s having success, but more underneath that just being intentional about what he’s doing. He’s working on things that will allow him to be a good major league pitcher and more than just he’s trying to be a good AAA pitcher.”
Cherington added he needs to not just be more efficient, but more efficient within innings and batters as much as for an overall game. He fully admits they are trying to do something that might be wrong. A number from ESPN on Wednesday shows 35% of pitchers in the majors have had Tommy John surgery. They are trying to keep Skenes, Jared Jones, all of their pitchers from adding to that number.
“We are trying to consider every piece of information we can,” Cherington said, including what the Nationals did with first overall pick Stephen Strasburg. “The question is how can you be certain this is right? The answer is we can’t be. I don’t know for sure. We are trying to do the best we can to put our pitchers in position to be at their best, stay healthy and help the Pirates win as much as possible.”
It’s not like they aren’t willing to follow someone’s blueprint. There isn’t one. Even if there was one, it might not apply to all pitchers. Everyone is unique from different backgrounds and put different pressures on their arms. Cherington said they build every pitcher’s plan individually.
Cherington said there is also a value to work through some new situations in the minors before being called up. He said the question is for Skenes, or any pitcher, how much of this preparation does that player need?
While he didn’t say when, there are no immediate plans to call up the 21-year-old, first-overall pick last year, whether that’s right or wrong.