No player has conquered all levels of professional baseball as much as Pittsburgh Pirates phenom Paul Skeens has conquered Triple-A this season.
The No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 MLB Draft started four games and allowed five hits with 27 strikeouts in 12 2/3 innings. His ERA is 0. He faced a total of 47 batters and had a strikeout rate of 57.4%.according to Baseball America's Carlos CollazoSkeens' fastball averaged 160.2 mph, higher than every starter in MLB.
That sounds and looks like an MLB-ready or better pitcher, right?
right?
Well, it's actually more complicated than that, at least according to Pirates. On Friday, a day after Skeens had eight strikeouts in 3 1/3 innings (65 pitches), manager Derek Shelton explained:
“What we have to continue to focus on is that once he gets here, efficiency is going to be important as well. We have to develop him. He's done a good job with that. There are plans in place. I understand that sometimes people want to rush the plan, it's human nature, but we have a plan in place. I feel that there is.”
Shelton is essentially saying that as good as Skeens has been, the Pirates want to develop him to the point where he can pitch full games and make his pitches more efficient. But, as Shelton also pointed out, Skeens didn't need an incredible number of pitches to get through several innings.
All four starts Skeens has made this season, his innings, pitches and, for reference, his strikeouts are listed below.
March 30th vs. Louisville: 3 innings, 46 pitches, 5 strikeouts
April 5th vs. Memphis: 3 innings, 44 pitches, 6 strikeouts
April 12 vs. Toledo: 3 1/3 innings, 55 pitches, 8 strikeouts
April 18 vs. St. Paul: 3 1/3 innings, 65 pitches, 8 strikeouts
These numbers add up to 210 pitches, 16.6 pitches per inning and 4.5 pitches per opposing batter. MLB pitchers entered Friday, averaging 16.7 pitches per inning and 3.9 pitches per batter faced (Skeens threw 57.4% of batters, compared to 22.6% for the MLB league as a whole). (Remember, you're striking out.)
Skeens may need to pitch one or two more pitches than he did in Triple-A to beat the average MLB batter, but so far his pitching inefficiency hasn't been glaring. Rather, it's notable that batters only pitch his 4.5 pitches per at-bat, even though his 57.4% of at-bats include at least his three strikes.
Nevertheless, the Pirates have a plan, which apparently includes Skeens hitting his stride early in the season and likely making his debut in a month. What's not said in all of this is that the Pirates could conveniently take control of Skeens for a year if he debuts after a certain date.
MLB has tried to curb that strategy by giving bonus draft picks if a player wins Rookie of the Year after being named to the Opening Day roster as a top prospect; It is by no means fixed; b) In some cases, a player can win Rookie of the Year in one year. One guy is worth more than a draft pick at the end of the first round.
If all goes well, I won't be able to see Skenes until late April or early May. The hype around him has been growing ever since he started decimating the SEC with triple-digit heat and obnoxious secondary material while at LSU, and when he finally reached the mound in MLB, he was just like Stephen Strasburg. I was expecting such a welcome.
