The timing on Paul Skenes call-up could not have been more perfect

Ethan Smith – @mvp_EtHaN 05/09/24

Folks, Paul Skenes is officially coming up to the big league roster on Saturday versus the Chicago Cubs in what is arguably the biggest prospect debut in the history of the Pittsburgh Pirates franchise.

It had been “speculated” since he was drafted number one overall in the 2023 MLB Draft as to when Skenes would make his highly anticipated MLB debut, but the time is now and room for speculation is out the window, at least for when it will happen, there is plenty surrounding how Skenes will perform out of the gate and throughout what should be a lengthy MLB career.

Enough has been said about Skenes, he is a generational pitching prospect that has constantly been compared to the likes of Stephen Strasburg and Gerrit Cole since his collegiate days at Air Force and LSU, but the effect this move has on the team could mean even more than what he does on the mound on Saturday.

Last season, the Pittsburgh Pirates entered a nine-game stretch versus the Chicago Cubs and Milwaukee Brewers that began on June 13, with six of those games versus Chicago and three versus Milwaukee and three of those nine games coming at PNC Park, much like the upcoming stretch with an extra game at Wrigley Field sprinkled in for good measure.

For those who don’t remember, even though I am sure 99 percent of you reading do, the Pirates entered that stretch 34-30 coming off of a series win versus the New York Mets and still in prime contention for a very winnable NL Central. The proceedings nine contests practically took them out of that contention, as the Pirates lost 10 consecutive games, nine to the Brewers and Cubs and one to the Marlins, effectively taking the wind out of the sails of the Pirate’s ship.

A big talking point prior to that stretch last season was the decision to not select the contracts of Henry Davis and Endy Rodriguez, who at the time were lighting it up at AAA-Indianapolis and would’ve given more offensive output than Austin Hedges and Jason Delay, the catchers on the roster at the time. They were eventually called up shortly after, but it seemed too late to recover from what would end up being a death sentence to their NL Central hopes.

Some other factors come into play from that stretch as well, like Oneil Cruz being sidelined for the entire season after his gruesome injury early in the year and the lack of starting pitching in the back-end of the rotation.

Let’s tie this all together now shall we? Of the points I just made, factor in a couple of things for me. For starters, and this should be noted, the 2024 Pittsburgh Pirates are obviously not the 2023 Pittsburgh Pirates, in most cases when looking around the roster, they are just a flat out better team.

Unlike 2023, Oneil Cruz is healthy, and quite honestly, he’s picked it up as of late, hitting .327 over his past 15 games, and is a major factor in when the lineup is on and when it isn’t, which is hasn’t been for a few weeks now, but that’s a different story for another day. Also, the pitching staff has been quite the force to be reckoned with to begin 2024, ranking 11th in MLB in ERA, 15th in strikeouts and 8th in WHIP, so its a much better group overall than what we saw last season.

Take into account as well that as far as starting pitching is concerned, the contributions have come from everyone, as Mitch Keller has improved as of late, Martin Perez has been a steady, veteran presence, Jared Jones has continued to break multiple rookie records from a starting pitcher and even Quinn Priester and Bailey Falter have given you some good outing, although one of them will like be removed from the rotation as a result of Skenes arrival.

I said on my show, Locked On Pirates, that Skenes debut feels almost like a trade deadline move in May, because it almost feels like the Pirates acquired an ace, but it just so happens this budding star was there just waiting to leave Indianapolis and come to Pittsburgh, sorry Pat McAfee, don’t take that the wrong way.

So now you enter Skenes into a rotation that is already having considerable success, creating a lethal quartet of Keller, Perez, Jones and Skenes with a fifth starter, either Priester or Falter, who has given you solid outings, and take into account for just a moment that heading into this 10-game stretch versus Chicago and Milwaukee that in eight of those 10 games, the Pirates will have those four pitching, and chances are if the offense can even muster a minimal amount of offense, they have a better chance of winning with those guys on the mound.

The timing could not have been more perfect, and with the Pirates preaching about winning all offseason, this is a decision and a roster move that amplifies that thought process. The Pirates have sputtered over the past couple weeks, and calling up a prospect with the magnitude that Skenes possesses is something that surely becomes contagious across the entire roster and organization, and likely creates something the Pirates desperately need right now, momentum.

It is absolutely no guarantee that Skenes call-up propels the offense out of futility, he doesn’t swing the bat anymore and won’t swing the bat anymore like he did at Air Force. What is a guarantee is that he has MLB stuff already, and he gets to showcase it for the first time on Saturday, and because of that, the Pirates are a better baseball team as of today than they were yesterday before the announcement was made official, and that’s just a matter of fact.

When you have the opportunity to call-up a generational, MLB ready talent, you do it, and the Pirates seemed to do it at the perfect time, heading into a stretch against the top-two teams in their division with a chance to close the gap and assert their spot as a contending team within a very winnable division that should just about every team fighting for the division pennant through September, and Skenes helps the Pirates get closer to that goal because again, he makes this baseball team better right now, and that’s just what the doctor ordered as the cure to hopefully propel the Pirates over their NL Central foes over the next week and change.

Paul Skenes welcome to the show, to me, it couldn’t have been a better time to do so, break and leg and well, thanks to Jared Jones, no pressure.