Kovacevic: Is Skenes baseball's real No. 1 prospect?

For months now, it's been obvious that the Pirates should prioritize an LSU prospect with the No. 1 overall pick in Major League Baseball's Draft this summer.

And that's still true. Only it might not be Dylan Crews.

Yeah, Crews is legit. He's a 21-year-old outfielder who's slashing at a daydream-level .457/.607/.790 rate, with 13 home runs and 53 RBIs in 48 games. And even those stats don't do him justice next to seeing one of the sweetest swings at any level of the sport:

Power to all fields. Production to match. Poise exceeding both. He's got it all.

But he's no longer the consensus No. 1, and that's got nothing to do with him and everything to do with a teammate: Paul Skenes is a 20-year-old, 6-foot-6 right-hander who's seen by some scouts as the most promising college pitcher since Stephen Strasburg-mania back in 2009. He's now averaging 98 mph on his heat, capable of touching 102 -- not a misprint -- and he's got the arsenal and command to complement that:

I haven't even mentioned the dynamic arm slot.

The Pirates aren't about to publicly divulge which way they might be leaning, but I'm told from within that they're not locked in on either and, furthermore, that they weren't locked in on Crews even when he stood all alone in this conversation. Doesn't mean they don't love Crews. Doesn't mean they don't love Skenes. Just means they don't yet know which to love a little more.

And based on Ben Cherington's own precedent, don't expect that stance to palpably change until, oh, a few minutes before he's set to submit his pick July 7.

That said ... I heard from a longtime scout in the business who's seen plenty of LSU this year and last, and at least one mind's more than made up.

"If the Pirates don't take Skenes ..." the scout spoke, and I'll omit the phrasing that followed. "He'll be in their rotation by August."

Pittsburgh?

"Pittsburgh."

I'll keep the rest to myself, as well, except that, when I brought up Crews, the scout came back with all the standard rhetoric about college hitters always needing to show what they can do with wooden bats vs. aluminum. Whereas, per the scout, a top-of-the-rotation, plug-and-play starter comes along once in a Strasburg cycle.

Should be a fun couple of months ahead.

Me, I'm staying out of it. For now.

MORE PIRATES

• Not to be the buzzkill, but there's not yet any assurance that Oneil Cruz will return in 2023. Not from anyone. Not to any degree. Nothing's changed about his status, I should stress, and he hasn't had a setback. I'm just sharing that the four-month timeline -- still three months away -- isn't firm in the slightest.

• Derek Shelton's contract was extended by Cherington two weeks into the season, a move that many posit was made as a reaction to the Pirates' superlative start. That isn't the case. They'd begun communicating about it months earlier. It'd never been in doubt for Cherington. All he did in announcing the signing when he did was strike at a time when he thought it'd make the most impact within the organization. (He's anything but the PR type.)

• Why aren't Endy Rodriguez and/or Henry Davis in Pittsburgh when both can hit better than more than half the roster that's already here? It's simple, at least from management's eyes: Both continue to be seen as catcher-first prospects, and their development's seen within that prism far more than it's related to their offense. I don't agree with this. I actually find it confounding, given that both will never share the position here. But hey.

• One of the many perils of an all-out rebuild is that the people engineering it never stop prioritizing components that don't immediately involve the parent club. Seen that forever. This isn't any different. Everything, everything, everything is about development.

• Money? Yeah, that's a variable, too. Always is. But I don't believe -- for real -- that it's the motivating factor here. The development grip's like a vise on these people.

• It's uplifting to see JT Brubaker around the group. Lots of baseball ops people don't like having injured players around because they feel it can function as a drag on the general mood of a clubhouse. Cherington sees it the opposite way in that he's thinking more about the injured player and keeping his spirits high. Suffice it to say, it's appreciated by Brubaker, Cruz and anyone else who's out a while. "I've been down there alone, and it stinks," Brubaker was telling me this week, referring to Bradenton, Fla. "This, at least, allows me to be around my teammates until it's time to get busier with baseball activity."

• I'd made a glancing reference in my Wednesday column from PNC Park that Ke'Bryan Hayes told me the Rockies had made significant adjustments this week, resulting from the Pirates having blown them up in Denver two weeks earlier. Andrew McCutchen happened to mention something similar in the same clubhouse availability. Neither elaborated on what that meant but, upon further digging, it was no big deal: Colorado's coaches simply had more information on the Pirates' hitters, how to attack each individually, and conveyed all that to their pitchers and catchers. Standard stuff.

PENGUINS

• Jason Botterill's been part of the Penguins' process in searching for a new GM. I can't state that it was a definitive interview, but he's in this, even though the Kraken -- the team for which he's an assistant GM -- remain in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

• The Fenway Sports Group people involved in this search have absolutely, unequivocally not made up their minds to stick with a GM/president split to their hierarchy. And the reason for that is that Kyle Dubas, the Maple Leafs' GM, might be most interested in any position where he can operate with autonomy. And yeah, he's part of this process, too, despite his team having at least one more night in the playoffs.

• I shouldn't leave out Eric Tulsky, the Hurricanes' assistant GM. He's the only one of the above who's now through to the conference final.

• As long as I'm debunking incorrect things making the rounds -- which I hate doing because I've got my own work to do -- Mike Sullivan's got zip to do with this search. No idea where that might've started, but it's 100% fiction. He'd be part of a dialogue later in the process, since that's standard procedure, but that's it.

• The Rangers can covet Sullivan all they want, per the reporting of the truly great Larry Brooks of the New York Post, but they've got exactly zero chance of prying him away. The bond between FSG and Sullivan's very real.

• As ever on this front, wish I had more. Tough time for accruing info on a hockey team that's being run by people who aren't around and, more relevant, who haven't made themselves known.

STEELERS

• Arthur Maulet had told me when the Steelers' season ended he hoped to approach management about an extension and, within that, of course, a raise on the $990,000 salary he'd have been due for 2023. Two days ago, the team released him. (And yeah, it was really a release.) I'm sharing only to underscore the chasm that often exists between how an athlete sees one's self-worth and how management can see it.

• Maulet's a great guy. Fierce competitor. I don't often do this, but here's wishing the man well wherever he goes and whatever he does. And remember, every roster needs someone with the stones to tell the Marcus Allen types to shut up. It was Maulet who did that in Orchard Park, and his teammates (mostly) loved him for it.

• Maulet being cleared out also clears up that the three-safety set's about to really take root. Mike Tomlin, Teryl Austin and Brian Flores wanted to go all-in with this in 2022, but Damontae Kazee's injury scrubbed it. But now, with Maulet out, with no obvious successor at nickel corner -- though management's open to Patrick Peterson sliding inside -- all signs are pointing hard to a safety trio of Minkah Fitzpatrick, Kazee and newcomer Keanu Neal, with the latter pressing much closer to the line of scrimmage. Which also would address the lack of impact potential at inside linebacker, by the way. Quantity vs. quality.

• Look for both Dan Moore Jr. and Kevin Dotson to be challenged through the offseason to expand their versatility to include the right side of their respective positions on the offensive line.

• Thanks for reading Insider! Today's the start of rookie minicamp on the South Side, and I'm very much looking forward to that!