On the first day that pitchers and catchers reported to Pirate City, Paul Skenes was on full display. He started the day by throwing the ball around with Bubba Chandler. No, that's not a baseball flying 20-30 yards, but a football. Chandler was at one point committed to play quarterback at Clemson. Fun stuff.
Below's an even better look of Skenes' form. What do we think?
GREG MACAFEE/DKPS
Ben Cherington and the Pirates front office moved Skenes along very slowly at this time a year ago. That won't be the case this time around.
"Obviously we took it really slow last year intentionally and he's going to come into camp as you'd expect a regular starting pitcher to come into camp and get built up with the rest of the starters," Cherington said. "We know how hard he's worked and he still, he went into this offseason I don't think any different than he has in the past. He went into this offseason very focused on things he still wanted to improve. We'll see that play out now in spring training and his buildup will be like a regular starter in the major leagues."
Skenes' first season included an 11-3 record, 1.96 ERA and 170 strikeouts in 133 innings. He utilized a variety of pitches including a fastball that reached triple digits consistently and a deadly "splinker" that drew a 29.3% whiff rate. But, there was still room for improvement and Cherington said today that Skenes had a desire to work on his arsenal this offseason.
"He's obviously got really high quality pitches and we know what the competition did, but there are certain parts of his arsenal that he went into the offseason, I know, looking to refine even further," Cherington said. "We know he's working on it and we'll let him answer that question as he gets in here."
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THE ASYLUM
Greg Macafee
7:12 pm - 02.12.2025BRADENTON, FLA.Skenes lets it rip on Day 1
On the first day that pitchers and catchers reported to Pirate City, Paul Skenes was on full display. He started the day by throwing the ball around with Bubba Chandler. No, that's not a baseball flying 20-30 yards, but a football. Chandler was at one point committed to play quarterback at Clemson. Fun stuff.
Below's an even better look of Skenes' form. What do we think?
GREG MACAFEE/DKPS
Ben Cherington and the Pirates front office moved Skenes along very slowly at this time a year ago. That won't be the case this time around.
"Obviously we took it really slow last year intentionally and he's going to come into camp as you'd expect a regular starting pitcher to come into camp and get built up with the rest of the starters," Cherington said. "We know how hard he's worked and he still, he went into this offseason I don't think any different than he has in the past. He went into this offseason very focused on things he still wanted to improve. We'll see that play out now in spring training and his buildup will be like a regular starter in the major leagues."
Skenes' first season included an 11-3 record, 1.96 ERA and 170 strikeouts in 133 innings. He utilized a variety of pitches including a fastball that reached triple digits consistently and a deadly "splinker" that drew a 29.3% whiff rate. But, there was still room for improvement and Cherington said today that Skenes had a desire to work on his arsenal this offseason.
"He's obviously got really high quality pitches and we know what the competition did, but there are certain parts of his arsenal that he went into the offseason, I know, looking to refine even further," Cherington said. "We know he's working on it and we'll let him answer that question as he gets in here."
Want to participate in our comments?
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Become a member, and enjoy premium benefits! Make your voice heard on the Steelers, Penguins and Pirates, and hear right back from tens of thousands of fellow Pittsburgh sports fans worldwide! Plus, access all our premium content, including Dejan Kovacevic columns, Friday Insider, daily Live Qs with the staff, more! And yeah, that's right, no ads at all!
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