Paul Skenes' workload was managed carefully en route to him becoming National League Rookie of the Year last season.
He went from having limited experience at the professional level to establishing himself as one of Major League Baseball’s elite arms, registering a 1.96 ERA over his first 133 innings as a member of the Pirates. It was a significant leap compared to the workload he experienced during his college days. This season, Skenes has thrown more innings (106) than just about every pitcher in baseball, trailing only Boston's Garrett Crochet (109 1/3) for the major-league lead.
He’s maintained a workhorse’s workload throughout the year, but even a workhorse needs to be monitored every once in a while. That’s part of the reason why Skenes went a season-low four innings in the Pirates' 4-2 loss to the Brewers this afternoon at American Family Field.
He threw 50 of 78 pitches for strikes and allowed four-plus runs for the second time in 17 starts this season and the third time in 40 career starts. He went four innings in his big-league debut on May 11, 2024 and only threw two innings in his final start of the year in New York.
Like he did against the Yankees in September, Mike Burrows followed Skenes and didn’t allow a hit over 2 1/3 innings in relief. He combined with CalebFerguson and Dennis Santana to hold the Brewers scoreless over the final four innings.
"We're just trying to monitor Paul,” Don Kelly said. “I mean, he's our workhorse and has pitched a lot. We had Burrowsavailable out of the 'pen, so just kind of monitoring it and seeing how the game was going to go along. … Just really want to be mindful of where (Skenes) is at. There's going to be days that he can run for a long time, and then there's other times that we got to just take care of him, too, as far as him being our workhorse and understanding where he's at."
This doesn’t seem like something to overreact about. This is the type of decision that will be made regarding an ace pitcher throughout a long season. When I asked Skenes how he’s felt about the workload he’s experienced this season, he said he’s felt good. He also understands there may be times where lower-volume outings might come into play.
"I think we probably gotta mix those in occasionally throughout the year, but you look at the stretch that we just went on, where a lot of it was on five days going seven-eight innings pretty consistently, I've been happy with it,” Skenes said. “I think that my body is in a good spot. I think that tells me that kinda what we did in the offseason, throughout spring training and up to this point in the season has been the right thing, so I'm very pleased with where my body is at. At the end of the day, the focus is going to be to stay on the field, because as long as I'm on the field and the rest of the staff is on the field, it's going to take care of itself, because we're pretty good."
On this day, one poor inning ended up serving as another factor in Skenes’ short stay on the mound. He gave up all four of his runs on four hits in the second inning. Of those hits, two helped produce runs, including this bloop single by Eric Haase …
… and this opposite-field single to left by ChristianYelich:
While the results weren’t desirable, Skenes wasn’t unhappy with the execution of his pitches in the second. Sure, there were some that could have been better, but sometimes even the best pitchers have to tip their caps when a major-league hitter wins a battle.
The same could be said when the story is the other way around, as it was over Skenes’ last 2 1/3 innings when he retired seven straight batters.
“There’s some element of luck when you put the ball in play,” Skenes said. “They found holes. I didn't strike anybody out in those last two innings, I just got weak contact. They hit it at guys, we caught it and threw it to first and all that, and that's how it's been for most of the year. When they put the ball in play, it's usually an out if it's weak contact. Can't sweat the long inning there.”
• The pitching matchup between Skenes and Brewers phenom Jacob Misiorowski was highly anticipated. Skenes didn’t have his best outing, but Misiorowski was strong in his third MLB start, showing off a plethora of triple-digit fastballs and striking out eight over five scoreless innings.
"He did a great job,” Skenes said. “I didn't watch a ton of it, but what I saw was pretty electric. Just want the best for him and I'm looking forward to pitching against him again this year. It will be fun."
• Oneil Cruz was in the Pirates lineup once again after being removed in the eighth inning of Tuesday’s game due to his “energy and effort” on a double play ball an inning prior. Kelly said he had a good conversation with Cruz today and that he understood why the decision was made.
"I think he understood from last week against Texas, and made it clear yesterday that that's not going to be tolerated,” Kelly said. “We need more. Not more hits, not more home runs -- that will come with the work -- but the effort and the way we go about it, and I think he heard it."
• Tommy Pham seems to be turning things around as of late. After collecting two hits today, he’s now produced three straight multi-hit efforts and is hitting .389 with a homer and seven RBIs over his last seven games.
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THE ASYLUM
José Negron
6:30 pm - 06.25.2025MilwaukeeExtra Bases: Monitoring a ‘workhorse’
Paul Skenes' workload was managed carefully en route to him becoming National League Rookie of the Year last season.
He went from having limited experience at the professional level to establishing himself as one of Major League Baseball’s elite arms, registering a 1.96 ERA over his first 133 innings as a member of the Pirates. It was a significant leap compared to the workload he experienced during his college days. This season, Skenes has thrown more innings (106) than just about every pitcher in baseball, trailing only Boston's Garrett Crochet (109 1/3) for the major-league lead.
He’s maintained a workhorse’s workload throughout the year, but even a workhorse needs to be monitored every once in a while. That’s part of the reason why Skenes went a season-low four innings in the Pirates' 4-2 loss to the Brewers this afternoon at American Family Field.
He threw 50 of 78 pitches for strikes and allowed four-plus runs for the second time in 17 starts this season and the third time in 40 career starts. He went four innings in his big-league debut on May 11, 2024 and only threw two innings in his final start of the year in New York.
Like he did against the Yankees in September, Mike Burrows followed Skenes and didn’t allow a hit over 2 1/3 innings in relief. He combined with Caleb Ferguson and Dennis Santana to hold the Brewers scoreless over the final four innings.
"We're just trying to monitor Paul,” Don Kelly said. “I mean, he's our workhorse and has pitched a lot. We had Burrows available out of the 'pen, so just kind of monitoring it and seeing how the game was going to go along. … Just really want to be mindful of where (Skenes) is at. There's going to be days that he can run for a long time, and then there's other times that we got to just take care of him, too, as far as him being our workhorse and understanding where he's at."
This doesn’t seem like something to overreact about. This is the type of decision that will be made regarding an ace pitcher throughout a long season. When I asked Skenes how he’s felt about the workload he’s experienced this season, he said he’s felt good. He also understands there may be times where lower-volume outings might come into play.
"I think we probably gotta mix those in occasionally throughout the year, but you look at the stretch that we just went on, where a lot of it was on five days going seven-eight innings pretty consistently, I've been happy with it,” Skenes said. “I think that my body is in a good spot. I think that tells me that kinda what we did in the offseason, throughout spring training and up to this point in the season has been the right thing, so I'm very pleased with where my body is at. At the end of the day, the focus is going to be to stay on the field, because as long as I'm on the field and the rest of the staff is on the field, it's going to take care of itself, because we're pretty good."
On this day, one poor inning ended up serving as another factor in Skenes’ short stay on the mound. He gave up all four of his runs on four hits in the second inning. Of those hits, two helped produce runs, including this bloop single by Eric Haase …
… and this opposite-field single to left by Christian Yelich:
While the results weren’t desirable, Skenes wasn’t unhappy with the execution of his pitches in the second. Sure, there were some that could have been better, but sometimes even the best pitchers have to tip their caps when a major-league hitter wins a battle.
The same could be said when the story is the other way around, as it was over Skenes’ last 2 1/3 innings when he retired seven straight batters.
“There’s some element of luck when you put the ball in play,” Skenes said. “They found holes. I didn't strike anybody out in those last two innings, I just got weak contact. They hit it at guys, we caught it and threw it to first and all that, and that's how it's been for most of the year. When they put the ball in play, it's usually an out if it's weak contact. Can't sweat the long inning there.”
• The pitching matchup between Skenes and Brewers phenom Jacob Misiorowski was highly anticipated. Skenes didn’t have his best outing, but Misiorowski was strong in his third MLB start, showing off a plethora of triple-digit fastballs and striking out eight over five scoreless innings.
"He did a great job,” Skenes said. “I didn't watch a ton of it, but what I saw was pretty electric. Just want the best for him and I'm looking forward to pitching against him again this year. It will be fun."
• Oneil Cruz was in the Pirates lineup once again after being removed in the eighth inning of Tuesday’s game due to his “energy and effort” on a double play ball an inning prior. Kelly said he had a good conversation with Cruz today and that he understood why the decision was made.
"I think he understood from last week against Texas, and made it clear yesterday that that's not going to be tolerated,” Kelly said. “We need more. Not more hits, not more home runs -- that will come with the work -- but the effort and the way we go about it, and I think he heard it."
• Tommy Pham seems to be turning things around as of late. After collecting two hits today, he’s now produced three straight multi-hit efforts and is hitting .389 with a homer and seven RBIs over his last seven games.
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