PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – The Pirates front office meeting Monday to discuss who would be the fill-in if Marco Gonzales’ injury is long-term. They won’t need another starter until the Red Sox series with an off-day on Thursday. Several names are in the mix, Paul Skenes is not one of them.
Pirates General Manager Ben Cherington talked about the injury to starting pitcher Marco Gonzales during his show on 93.7 The Fan and Pirates Radio Network Sunday saying they are still evaluating the left forearm muscle strain. It’s unknown right now how long he would be out.
Cherington is not surprised that something like this happened as he said they plan for ‘these kind of things’. He says they have alternatives and we might not know until the weekend which way they will go when they need a fifth starter.
One thing to know, it won’t be 2023 first-round pick Paul Skenes.
“I think with Paul, we have been very intentional about how we are building his volume coming into this season,” Cherington said on 93.7 The Fan and the Pirates Radio Network. “It’s to try to get him to an appropriate total volume for 2024 coming off last year where it pitched a full college season. We think we can build off that, but we don’t want to go from zero to 100 right away. Paul is so important to us long term.”
He went on to explain that he’s looking for a starter ideally with a little MLB experience. They want someone who has been stretched out and built up enough volume so they can slip right into the rotation.
“I think we would be looking at guys who have been in that 85-90 pitch count,” Cherington said on 93.7 The Fan as Skenes has a season-long 3.1 innings. “It probably won’t be the last time we need a starter this year. We are going to look for the best solution short-term.”
Again, that is not Skenes. Not yet.
So who?
Signs point to another first-round pick, Quinn Priester.
“Quinn had more professional experience,” Cherington said during his show on 93.7 The Fan and the Pirates Radio Network. “Having made Major League starts last year, he’s been on a pretty normal progression to start the season and he’s looked good. He’s throwing multiple pitches. He’s really executing with a bunch of strikeouts, which is really encouraging.”
Cherington said Priester is steadily getting better and better. He said we still have to realize he’s very young and he believes the 23-year-old will be ‘a really good Major League Baseball starter’. The Bucs GM urged fans not to look at the ERA because that can be deceiving, especially early in a season. Look at the jump in his velocity and the separation between walks and strikeouts.
In three starts in AAA this season, Priester is 1-1 with a 3.95 ERA, 1.26 WHIP with 20 strikeouts to five walks in 13.2 innings. His first start-5.2, one-hit innings with nine strikeouts, second outing-four innings, two runs, four walks, three strikeouts and the latest-four innings, three runs, no walks and eight strikeouts.
The other note, Priester is pitching on roughly the same day as Gonzales.
Cherington said Josh Fleming and Luis Ortiz, who are former starters currently in the Pirates bullpen, are options.
Ortiz hasn’t pitched more than two innings out of the pen and his longest appearance in Grapefruit League action was four innings. Fleming, a 27-year-old left-hander, threw three innings against Miami on March 29 and never started a game during Spring Training.
Veteran Eric Lauer is in AAA, but he’s only started one game going 3.2 innings. The lefty will start Tuesday for Indianapolis and has given up one hit in his last 7.2 innings. Late signee Domingo German is not an option, he still has to build up his pitch count. Other AAA starters are both 27-year-old left-handers--Michael Plassmeyer (8.62 ERA, four starts, 15.2 innings, 21 strikeouts, three walks) and Cam Alldred (10.00 ERA, three starts, nine innings, 10.0 ERA, five strikeouts, six walks).
Cherington said they have alternatives, but an early injury already testing the starting pitching depth.