Pirates Ace Paul Skenes Fails to Give Pittsburgh Fans Assurance He Will Stay
January 21, 2025
2,570
At the age of 22, Paul Skenes lived up to the hype surrounding him coming out of LSU, where he was the winning pitcher in the championship game of the College World Series, to become the consensus No. 1 pick in the 2023 MLB draft. In 133 innings last season he posted an eye-popping 1.96 ERA, the lowest by a rookie in the live ball era, which began in 1920.
In fact, Skenes’ ERA was the best for any rookie with at least 20 starts since Reb Russell of the Chicago White Sox in 1913, whose 1.90 ERA came over 316 2/3 innings in 52 games. But that was a very different era in baseball.
CINCINNATI, OHIO – SEPTEMBER 22: Paul Skenes #30 of the Pittsburgh Pirates pitches during the game against the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park on September 22, 2024 in Cincinnati, Ohio. CINCINNATI, OHIO – SEPTEMBER 22: Paul Skenes #30 of the Pittsburgh Pirates pitches during the game against the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park on September 22, 2024 in Cincinnati, Ohio. Jason Mowry/Getty Images
As the top draft pick, Skenes was picked by the Pittsburgh Pirates, a team that has not made a postseason appearance since 2015, and has not finished higher than fourth place in the five-team National League Central Division since 2016 — placing last four times in that span including last season.
Skenes, however, appears to be the type of player a franchise can, and should, build around. But the Pirates have done little to show they plan to do that in the current offseason. Will Skenes be willing to stay in Pittsburgh past the six years of service time required under MLB rules?
As of Sunday, the young superstar was not willing to say.
More MLB: Pete Alonso Mets Reunion May Be Back in Play After Big Toronto Free Agent Move
“I haven’t given it too much thought,” Skenes said, appearing at the annual PiratesFest, when he was asked about signing a long-term contract extension.
But Skenes expressed optimism about the upcoming season, despite the team’s mediocre 76-86 record in 2024 — the identical record to 2023.
“We have the talent and stuff to do it. We just have to pass the line,” Skenes told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “I think that was something that we did really well at times last year.”
Skenes was also asked if the Pirates had even approached him about locking him up for the future with a contract extension. The fire-balling righty said he had not heard “a whole lot” on the possibility from the team.
More MLB: MLB Rumors: Red Sox Rival Interested In Signing Future Hall Of Fame Pitcher
A legjobb élmény biztosítása érdekében olyan technológiákat használunk, mint a cookie-k az eszközadatok tárolására és/vagy eléréséhez. Ha beleegyezik ezekbe a technológiákba, akkor olyan adatokat dolgozhatunk fel ezen az oldalon, mint a böngészési viselkedés vagy az egyedi azonosítók. A hozzájárulás elmulasztása vagy visszavonása bizonyos funkciókat és funkciókat hátrányosan érinthet.
Functional
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
