What the Pirates are doing with Paul Skenes is criminal

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The Pittsburgh Pirates have the best pitcher in the National League on their roster.

In case you haven’t figured out who I’m talking about yet, it’s

. The Pittsburgh ace has been absolutely incredible by almost every metric in 2025. This is after he won the National League Rookie of the Year Award in 2024, mind you.

Here’s what he’s doing in his sophomore season in Pittsburgh:

19 starts, 2.01 ERA (was 1.94 before allowing 2 earned runs in 5 innings on Friday night), 121 innings pitched, 131 strikeouts

This was after he finished 2024 with a 1.96 ERA and 170 strikeouts in 133 innings of work in 2024. Skenes went 11-3 during his rookie year. This year…

That’s not a typo. I didn’t accidentally switch the wins and losses. He’s having a very similar season to what he had as a rookie stats-wise, but the Pirates are not winning games in which their ace takes the mound.

The Pirates fired manager Derek Shelton on May 8 during a 7-game losing streak (

side note: following Friday night’s loss, the Pirates are currently riding another 7-game losing streak

). Prior to Shelton’s firing, Skenes had eclipsed 90 pitches in 7 of his 8 starts and had thrown 100+ pitches in 4 starts. His season-high is only 108 pitches (on April 25 against the Dodgers), so the Pirates weren’t overworking him at all under Shelton.

Keep in mind this is the same guy who threw 123 pitches against Tennessee and 120 pitches against Wake Forest in the 2023 College World Series, leading LSU to a national championship.

I’m not saying the Pirates need to leave him out there until his arm falls off. But there’s a middle ground between 120 pitches and what they’ve been doing with him recently. Here’s a look at Skenes’ last 4 outings:

4.0 innings, 4 ER, 78 pitches, 4 strikeouts, 2 walks (Skenes took the L)

5.0 innings, 0 ER, 88 pitches, 5 strikeouts, 1 walk (Skenes no-decision)

5.0 innings, 0 ER, 78 pitches, 10 strikeouts, 0 walks (Skenes no-decision)

5.0 innings, 2 ER, 78 pitches, 6 strikeouts, 0 walks (Skenes took the L)

You can make a (flimsy) case for pulling Skenes in the Milwaukee game. You can potentially say you didn’t want him to start another inning with a pitch count of 88 against St. Louis.

It’s not a case I would make, because it’s a stupid case. But it’s a case, nonetheless.

He could have come back out for the 6th inning and faced at least 1 or 2 batters to get to 100 pitches in a game that was 0-0. You don’t have to have him finish each start with “.0” at the end of his innings pitched stat. You can go 5.1 innings, 6.2 innings, 4.2 innings — hell, you can even throw 7.1 innings if you want to go crazy. That’s allowed by the MLB rulebook.

But to pull him from back-to-back games in which he had thrown 78 pitches over 5 innings with a combined 16 strikeouts and 0 walks? That’s criminal. Whoever is making these decisions should not be involved with Major League Baseball in any way.

The Pirates moved to the NL Central in 1994. They’ve won the division exactly 0 times. The Pirates made the playoffs in 1992 and then didn’t make it again until 2013. That’s 21 years. That’s the legal drinking age. A baby born in September of 1992 would have legally been able to have a beer while watching the game the next time the Pirates made the postseason.

Pittsburgh then went on a “run” of making the postseason in 2013, 2014 and 2015, failing to advance past the NL Wild Card round each time. Cool. Good job, guys.

That 2015 season was the last time Pittsburgh sniffed the playoffs. It’s now been another decade of utter incompetence.

At this point, it’s worth wondering if the Pirates even want to win. When they got the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 MLB Draft, did the front office/ownership even celebrate? Or were they upset that a player of Skenes’ caliber fell into their lap?

When you’re a rebuilding team like the Pirates, it’s OK to not be competitive for a couple years after getting the No. 1 overall pick. Heck, most No. 1 overall picks don’t make it to the majors in under a year. Maybe, just maybe, the quickness with which he reached the majors caught them off-guard.

But to be 2 years away from being 2 years away from competing like the Pirates currently are?

is utterly unacceptable. There’s no discernible plan to anything the Pirates are doing these days.

The 2025 MLB Draft starts on Sunday. The Pirates have the No. 6 overall pick. Whoever they take this year might be in his 40s before the Pirates make the postseason again.

If you don’t want to win, that’s fine. Go ahead and collect your MLB revenue share checks and line your pockets.

I just ask that while you do that, please don’t have the best pitcher in the National League on your team.

If anyone in the Pirates’ front office happens to see this, please don’t waste a generational talent. Do the right thing and send him to a team that actually wants to win baseball games.

Adam is a daily fantasy sports (DFS) and sports betting expert. A 2012 graduate of the University of Missouri, Adam now covers all 16 SEC football teams. He is the director of DFS, evergreen and newsletter content across all Saturday Football brands.

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