{"id":72689,"date":"2024-05-08T16:34:07","date_gmt":"2024-05-08T20:34:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=72689"},"modified":"2024-05-08T16:34:07","modified_gmt":"2024-05-08T20:34:07","slug":"pirates-skenes-debut-rumor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/05\/08\/pirates-skenes-debut-rumor\/","title":{"rendered":"Pirates \u201cHaven\u2019t Figured Out\u201d Top Prospect\u2019s Major League Debut"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/04\/22\/rumor-pirates-promote-skenes\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">rumored major league debut<\/a> of Pittsburgh Pirates top prospect <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/register\/player.fcgi?id=skenes000pau&amp;utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-05-08_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Paul Skenes<\/a> is apparently just that \u2013 a rumor. Skenes, the No. 3 prospect in major league baseball, was rumored to get the call in time to start against the Chicago Cubs at PNC Park this weekend. However, Pirates manager <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/managers\/sheltde99.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Derek Shelton<\/a> recently threw cold water on that notion. Thus, fans must wait longer for the most highly anticipated debut since the Beatles appeared on <em>The Ed Sullivan Show<\/em> in 1964. Shelton and general manager Ben Cherington speak of the need for Skenes to \u201ccheck boxes\u201d before he\u2019s ready. With last Sunday&#8217;s start for triple-A Indianapolis, it was thought he checked his final box by pitching on four days\u2019 rest for the first time as a professional. In his previous start, he reached a pitch count of 75, his highest as a professional.<\/p>\n<p>His girlfriend, social media star Livvy Dunne, dropped a hint by posting a photo of his Pirates jersey on Snapchat. Oddly, there\u2019s a woman\u2019s purse in the photo, too. Presumably, Skenes won\u2019t be bringing that to the mound with him. In any event, it was seen as a confirmation of the rumor about the Pirates debut of Skenes.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Livvy Dunne posted a Paul Skenes jersey on Snapchat tonight. That settles it. He\u2019s pitching in Pittsburgh this weekend. Debate over. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/HP52wxs3M2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/HP52wxs3M2<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Andrew Fillipponi (@ThePoniExpress) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ThePoniExpress\/status\/1787295448031510903?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">May 6, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2>&#8220;We Haven&#8217;t Figured It Out Yet&#8221;<\/h2>\n<p>Of course, the timing of Skenes\u2019s debut isn\u2019t up to Dunne. Shelton told the media that Skenes was scheduled to start for Indianapolis this weekend. As for when we might see Skenes in the majors, Shelton said, \u201cWe haven\u2019t figured it out yet.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Shelton can be as forthcoming to the press with information as your favorite NFL coach \u2013 meaning, not at all. The notion that they \u201chaven\u2019t figured it out yet\u201d is absurd. Shelton and Cherington have often spoken of having a careful plan in place to get Skenes ready. How can they not have a target date in mind for his debut?<\/p>\n<h3>Might the Pirates Be Planning to Make the Rumor of the Skenes Debut a Reality?<\/h3>\n<p>Could the Pirates be throwing their fans a curveball and planning to bring Skenes up this weekend? It\u2019s possible but seems unlikely at this stage. One would think they\u2019d time the announcement to create a buzz for a few days and thus stimulate ticket sales. In any event, let\u2019s look at the pros and cons of bringing Skenes up now. Then we\u2019ll ponder how his presence affects the rotation.<\/p>\n<h3>Pros and Cons<\/h3>\n<p>Besides the fact that Skenes has dominated in triple-A, one reason in favor of calling him up this weekend is the upcoming schedule. Friday begins a 10-day stretch where the Pirates play the Cubs and Milwaukee Brewers. Both teams are ahead of the Bucs in the National League Central Division standings. The schedule now provides for fewer intra-division games due to expanded interleague play. Such games are more crucial than they&#8217;ve ever been. One would think the Pirates would want to go against these teams with their best. Surely, Skenes would represent one of their best. The big right-hander wasn\u2019t drafted to be a fifth starter or long reliever.<\/p>\n<p>In the Pirates\u2019 defense, Skenes won\u2019t help with their <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/04\/19\/disturbing-trend-pirates-offense\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">biggest problem<\/a>, which is scoring runs. Their starting rotation has been the least of their worries. Rookie <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/search\/search.fcgi?pid=jonesja09,jones-013jar&amp;search=Jared+Jones&amp;utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-05-08_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jared Jones<\/a> has received plenty of attention by <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/05\/05\/pirates-rookie-jared-jones-history\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">reaching new milestones<\/a> with every start. However, the rest of the rotation hasn\u2019t been too shabby. As of Wednesday\u2019s action, collectively, the Pirates\u2019 starters, not counting <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/search\/search.fcgi?pid=flemijo01,flemin004jos&amp;search=Josh+Fleming&amp;utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-05-08_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Josh Fleming<\/a>, who was used as an opener in one game, have a 3.68 ERA, 1.179 WHIP, and 3.2 strikeout-to-walk ratio, notwithstanding Tuesday\u2019s 9-0 drubbing at the hands of the Los Angeles Angels.<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, in Skenes\u2019s most recent start, he pitched 4 1\/3 innings, surrendering two earned runs and for the first time, a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlb.com\/news\/paul-skenes-allows-first-homer-as-pro-in-seventh-start-for-indianapolis\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">home run<\/a>. For some, that wouldn\u2019t be considered too bad an outing, but it was his worst as a professional. As it was also his first time on four days\u2019 rest, the Pirates might want to see more of him in triple-A.<\/p>\n<h3>When Skenes Arrives<\/h3>\n<p>Everybody will have a rumor about when the Pirates will decide to debut Skenes. Let\u2019s look at what makes sense. After this weekend, his next scheduled start for Indianapolis will occur while the Bucs are on the road. The Pirates surely want him to debut at home, along with all the hype that will surround it. The Pirates return home on May 21 against the San Francisco Giants. If Skenes continues to pitch on four days\u2019 rest, the game on the 21st will coincide with his turn. That might be the target date for his debut.<\/p>\n<p>Who\u2019s going to be the odd man out of the Pirates rotation? Shelton could alternate <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/p\/priesqu01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-05-08_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Quinn Priester<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/f\/falteba01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-05-08_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bailey Falter<\/a> as the fifth starter based on how they match up with the opponent when their turn comes up. Alternatively, a six-man rotation might be used temporarily, meaning nobody will be bumped. Against the New York Mets earlier this season, Jones was <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/04\/24\/pirates-rookie-pitcher-jared-jones\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">pulled after just 59 pitches<\/a> and five innings of one-hit baseball. The bullpen turned a 1-0 lead into a 3-1 loss. Shelton told the media that he and the coaching staff decided on the limit to manage Jones\u2019 workload. Later, Cherington disavowed this action. Ever since, there have been no extraordinary limits on Jones. If a six-man rotation sounds a bit out of left field, perhaps it could be a way to limit the workloads of Jones and Skenes without pulling them from games early when they\u2019re dominating hitters.<\/p>\n<h3>The Last Word<\/h3>\n<p>So, this is where we stand, until the next rumor about when the Pirates will debut Skenes. In the meantime, please keep visiting this site for updates.<\/p>\n<p><em>Main Photo: \u00a9 Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The rumored major league debut of Pittsburgh Pirates top prospect Paul Skenes is apparently just that \u2013 a rumor. Skenes, the No. 3 prospect in major league baseball, was rumored to get the call in time to start against the Chicago Cubs at PNC Park this weekend. However, Pirates manager Derek Shelton recently threw cold [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5010,"featured_media":72701,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[26,1071],"tags":[6258,3215,3160,3718,6371,2694],"class_list":["post-72689","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pirates","category-mlb","tag-bailey-falter","tag-ben-cherington","tag-derek-shelton","tag-jared-jones","tag-paul-skenes","tag-quinn-priester"],"modified_by":"Matt Graves","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72689","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5010"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72689"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72689\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72701"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72689"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72689"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72689"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}