Skenes stays hot with three scoreless innings in second Class AAA start

INDIANAPOLIS -- The anticipation around Paul Skenes and his inevitable call-up to Pittsburgh builds every time he touches the baseball within the Pirates' farm system, and he turned up the gas in his second Class AAA start for Indianapolis Friday at Victory Field. 

In three innings, he held Memphis scoreless while allowing one hit, walking a batter, and striking out six. He threw 44 pitches and 32 for strikes while painting corners with ease. Of the 27 fastballs Skenes threw, 13 touched 100 mph. His fastball topped at 101.3 mph. in the second inning, and the average velocity of his four-seam fastball was 99.8 mph.

"I was really happy with it," Skenes said of his outing. "Got ahead of guys, put them away. Got to work on pitching with runners on also so I was happy with that. But, yeah, executed the game plan well. I was really happy with it."

Skenes picked up exactly from where he left his first Class AAA start March 30 at Louisville. He struck out the side on 12 pitches to begin the game and did so with vigor. Nine of his pitches were thrown for strikes and all three strikeouts were recorded via swings at 100 mph. fastballs just above the strike zone. He mixed in three sliders and one curveball in that first inning. Two sliders and one curveball were taken for balls low and outside of the zone.

Skenes' second inning Friday was his toughest in his five Class AAA innings to that point. He allowed a leadoff single to Luken Baker and Alfonso Rivas reached on a fielder's choice that saw Baker get thrown out at second base. Skenes had to cover first base on the play, but Liover Piguero's throw over didn't make it in time. Skenes struck out Jared Young looking at a 100.4 mph. fastball on the inside corner before Jose Fermin battled him for a 10-pitch walk. Skenes responded by striking out Matt Koperniak on three fastballs, all at 99.7 mph. or faster.

"I feel like a couple of those sliders (to Fermin) were there," Skenes said. "That's his game. He's a really good hitter. We felt like we couldn't really throw him anything but the fastball. We're trying to get him out in less than 10 pitches -- or get them all in less than 10 pitches. We don't want to waste 10 pitches on any one hitter. That was just a good at-bat on his part."

As Skenes admitted, he wanted to stay in an attacking mindset by trying to put Fermin away with a slider. That was the 10th pitch of the at-bat, and it came after throwing his two hardest fastballs of the evening.

"I was really comfortable with (the secondary pitches)," Skenes said. "I just missed on the last one. It happens. Don't want to miss on 3-2 but we can keep wasting pitches with fastballs or finish the at-bat with something else. I just missed on that pitch. It is what it is."

His third inning was calm, just as his first inning was. Skenes retired Memphis in order and added a looking strikeout from Thomas Saggese on a 100.5 mph. fastball on the outside corner to conclude his day.

"I was feeling good throughout," he said. "Ideally the last pitch of the outing is 101 in the seventh (inning), so that's the goal. Slow ramp-up but I was happy with it."

Here is a chart of Skenes' Friday, sorted by highest pitch velocity first:

Baseball Savant

Through two Class AAA starts, Skenes has allowed zero runs on one hit in 6.0 innings. He has walked one and struck out 11 while throwing 90 pitches and 61 for strikes. Skenes has thrown 12.2 innings in seven minor-league starts since being selected first overall in the 2023 draft, and the next step is stretching him out. Skenes has not pitched into the fourth inning in any of his seven professional starts.

"I think it's four innings, but I'm not totally sure," Skenes said of his next goal. "... Facing the lineup a second time, for sure, and it was nice to get that today."

Above all, Skenes preached execution as a major focal point of improvement while he is in Indianapolis. While stretching out to lengths he performed at while at LSU, command of his fastball and his spotting of his secondary pitches will have to remain consistent.

"Just keep executing the game plan against hitters," Skenes said. "Bottom line is the hitters get better in the big leagues, too, so trying to make sure the mistakes are as little as possible. It's still early in the season. Can probably get away with a little bit more a any level just because it is so early and the hitters haven't seen (velocity) and stuff and that kind of thing as much as they will in August or whatever. Just trying to make sure the mistakes are a lot smaller."