As Jared Jones and Paul Skenes continue their stellar rookie campaigns for the Pirates, the idea of pitch restrictions or limitations on their overall volume are certainly being discussed, as Ben Cherington alluded to during his pregame press conference Saturday afternoon.
The pair have thrived in their first season in Pittsburgh, aiding a starting rotation that ranks among the best in Major League Baseball. But neither have ever thrown more innings than they're currently on pace for. Jones threw just over 126 innings between Class AA Altoona and Class AAA Indianapolis last year, while Skenes was over 129 between pitching at LSU and a brief stint at the professional level at the end of the last year.
As of Saturday night, Jones sat at 86 innings pitched through 15 starts this season. That includes a seven-inning outing against the Rays on Saturday in which he allowed just two runs on three hits with three walks and eight strikeouts in a 4-3 Pirates victory at PNC Park. Skenes, on the other hand, has thrown just under 40 innings in seven big-league starts since making his debut on May 11. In total, he's thrown around 67 innings this season when factoring in the 27 1/3 he toed the rubber for in Indianapolis.
“There’s no precise line in the sand. We have sort of a rough idea of the area we would prefer them not to get to," Cherington said. "Even with that, there’s innings, there’s total pitches and different ways to add volume. It’s a conversation that’s ongoing and that we started with them really back in spring training, acknowledging that the goal was to put them in a position to be active pitchers for a full season, to contribute for a full season, and in order to do that, we were at some point likely going to have to look at some ways to manage volume and build in some more recovery. We’re still in the middle of those conversations. Won’t be surprised if at some point there will be some things we can do."
Whether it's a six-man rotation with starting pitchers like Martin Perez, Quinn Priester and Marco Gonzales on the mend, or extra days of rest being taken throughout the remainder of the season, there are plenty of options to help both Jones and Skenes remain healthy and prepared to contribute further down the stretch. But when it comes to potential shutdowns or pauses in activity, those aren't under consideration.
“Shut down are not the words I would use. We want them to be effective, healthy and available as much as possible to help us win games from here on out. Shut down doesn’t make sense from where I sit right now because that would mean no activity and then you have to come back from that and there are risks associated with that, too," Cherington said. "I think this is much more about making sure, outing to outing and when we look at the short term, we’re really mindful about recovery and picking spots. There may be times where we pick a spot to add a little more recovery, but we’ll see. We don’t have it all mapped out yet, it’s just an active conversation every day.”
As those conversations continue, Jones and Skenes will look to continue to make an impact like they have through the first few months of the season. For the Pirates to be successful, they'll certainly need the dynamic duo to be at its very best.
"We want them focused on competing, the daily conversations about what they're doing to get hitters out," Cherington said. "That's what we want them focused on."
