PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – Paul Skenes said there needs to be sacrifice within the Pirates team to get to where they want to go. The 23-year-old was pretty clear what needs to happen.
“This is a wasted year if we don’t learn what we need to do and we don’t know why we didn’t go out there and do what we wanted to do,” Skenes said Friday. “If those things happen, it’s a wasted year in my opinion.”
Skenes immediately pointed out he doesn’t think that is happening, that 2025 will be a wasted year.
“I think individually and as a team and as an organization we know the adjustments we need to make,” Skenes said. “Now we just got to do them.”
The Pirates ace said he definitely has some ideas of what they need to do. He did not elaborate as to the specific thoughts he had, but pointed to what the current guys in the clubhouse can do.
“Winning, a lot of it comes down to what you are willing to give up,” Skenes said. “What you are willing to sacrifice. As a group it’s going to take more sacrifices from us. I say that broadly. I think that’s a big piece.”
There is room to get better in this clubhouse according to Skenes, they just need to do it. He said he’s sure they will ‘get some pieces and do all that’, but his mindset is what they can do in the current locker room to get better now and next year.
“There is urgency to it, and we need to understand that and act on it.”
As much as it might be leaders in the room, coaches, the manager and/or front office personnel discussing what needs to happen, looking internally is a big part of that. Everyone, including him, needs to be better. They all need to go into the offseason with that mindset.
“It’s going to take a lot of guys looking at themselves in the mirror and figuring out what it is that they need to get better at and then making sacrifices to do that,” Skenes said.
What this team listen, and follow the example, of its leader?