PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – Three starting pitchers who the Pirates expect to be a part of the rotation throw the rest of the decade all had great first starts to the season.
Jared Jones
Slightly below 100 miles-an-hour a couple of times in his Major League debut on Saturday, Jared Jones struck out 10 Marlins getting the victory. Jones won a rotation spot in Grapefruit League play and pitched 5.2 innings, allowing only three hits and two walks against Miami.
Quinn Priester
Proud of how he competed in Spring Training finishing with 15.1 innings pitched, 10 runs allowed, 13 strikeouts to three walks and believing he has more power to his stuff, Quinn Priester got the win on Sunday at AAA Indianapolis going 5.2 innings allowing only a run on one hit, a walk and nine strikeouts.
Paul Skenes
Sent down early in camp, Skenes continues to dominate. The first-overall pick in 2023 pitched three perfect innings with five strikeouts in his AAA debut.
"He's showing us every time he is out there how close he is getting," said Pirates GM Ben Cherington on his show on 93.7 The Fan and the Pirates Radio Network. "The fastball played really well. We know that's a good pitch."
"He's got the secondary pitches. I think he would probably say if he was asked, some of the secondary offerings, the breaking balls. He threw some really good ones, maybe not as consistent as he's been as other times with the breaking stuff. It was obviously still plenty good enough to get good results. There is still polishing to his game."
'There is still polishing to his game' means don't expect him up soon. Notice that Skenes only threw three innings and 46 pitches (29 strikes). They're being very cautious with his workload early in his first full pro season.
"One of the major boxes we wanted him to check at AAA is number one to get into that professional schedule where it won't always be a week between outings like he had in college," Cherington said on 93.7 The Fan. "Then also to slowly build up some volume."
"We are going to be careful about that early on in April because we are thinking about a six-month season. We want to make sure we are thinking about what his total volume would be for a six-month season."
Cherington said he is confident Skenes will continue to get sharper and better. The doesn't doubt the improvement will happen, but it will be at a slower pace than most fans want.
"There is no one perfect way to do it, but with young pitching we want to think about how big the jumps are," Cherington said on his radio show. "You think about a guy that's pitched 125 innings between college and professional last year. We are not going to look to jump that by 50% or 60% or 70%. He will be in a position to pitch more than that this year. We think that he will be in a position to help us win games in Pittsburgh."
Injury updates
Reliever Colin Holderman
The right-hander will get more reps in Indy after a major illness during camp. Cherington said they want to give him the reps necessary because he missed so much of Spring Training. He will be on a regular schedule at AAA. Cherington said he's in a good spot and heading in the right direction
Reliever Carmen Mlodzinski
Cherington said the right-hander is close to getting back in game competition and is throwing off a mound after experiencing forearm discomfort. Expect him back in (minor-league) games in the next few days or so.
Catcher Yasmani Grandal
He is making really good progress according to Cherington. They chose to bring him on the trip because he said Grandal has become a critical voice in the room in advance scouting and preparation with pitchers and catchers. They wanted to keep him around the team. When he comes ready for activity, dealing with plantar fasciitis, they will send him down. Grandal will ramp up more activity in the next couple of days.
INF/OF Ji Hwan Bae
A hip flexor injury took him out of the running to win the second base job or make the roster. Bae is in Bradenton and closer to game action. He is doing all baseball activities, closer to game action and hopefully in the next 10 days will get into game activity and then will build the volume, according to Cherington.
