After a sensational rookie season, Pittsburgh Pirates mound phenom Paul Skenes took to the hill for the first time in 2025, striking out the first batter he faced. Skenes fanned Cedric Mullins of the Baltimore Orioles to start the bottom of the first at Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota, Florida.Â
Things got a little awkward for the 22-year-old fireballer after that, allowing a line-drive base hit to catcher Adley Rutschman and then walking designated hitter Ryan OâHearn. He then induced a soft grounder back to the mound by Ryan Mountcastle. But Skenes made a wide throw to second baseman Nick Solak, who got the force at second before air-mailing the throw to first allowing Rutschman to score.
Another base hit followed before Skenes set down Orioles right fielder Ramon Laureano on a swinging third strike.
Somewhat Shaky Debut for Pitching Phenom
Despite the somewhat rocky debut, Skenes enters 2025 with expectations running through the roof. As a rookie, the 2023 MLB overall No. 1 draft pick won National League Rookie of the Year and was selected as the NLâs All-Star starting pitcher. He posted an eye-opening 1.93 ERA in 133 innings, and finished third in NL Cy Young voting.Â
But this year, Skenes will be gunning to become the first Pirates pitcher to win the Cy Young since Doug Drabek, who did it by leading the NL in wins with 22 against just six losses in 1990.
Skenes settled down somewhat in his second inning of work against the Orioles on Saturday, picking up another strikeout and allowing one more base hit before getting out of the inning on a sacrifice bunt and a ground ball out.
In a somewhat surprising development, Skenes came out for a third inning despite already having thrown 37 pitches. He took six pitches to retire Rutschman on a shallow fly ball to center field. Skenes was then victimized by another infield throwing error, this one on a routine ground ball to shortstop Liover Peguero who simply sailed the ball well over Nick Yorkeâs head at first base.
After another base hit, Skenes got out of the inning with a foul pop fly and, to finish his outing with a flourish, a second strikeout of Laureano, this time on three pitches, all swinging.
Looking for More Innings in 2025
Skenes has said that he wants to shoulder a greater workload in his second season.
âI feel good. Iâm ready for a large volume and large workload this year,â he told MLB.com last week. âI worked on some stuff during the offseason, honed in on some stuff from last year. I feel like weâre really in a good spot.â
Pirates manager Derek Shelton said that the Pirates expect âa 30 start or 32 start seasonâ from Skenes. If so, his workload in his first game of the spring was a good start. After his scheduled debut was rained out on Monday, Skenes threw 45 pitches of live batting practice
Skenes faced 15 batters to start his spring, allowing four hits and an earned run, with one walk. According to Fangraphs projections, Skenes is on track for 174 innings in 2025, which is probably short of his goal.
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