Pirates' Paul Skenes Aiming To Learn From Bad Stretch
Paul Skenes and the Pittsburgh Pirates found themselves in the thick of the National League Wild Card race heading into the final two months.
By the time August ended, it was all but a formality that Pittsburgh would miss the playoffs for a ninth straight season; the second-longest drought in baseball, only trailing the Los Angeles Angels. With how the season ended, Pirates ace and 2024 National League Rookie of the Year Paul Skenes believes they've learned from what led to their downfall and can improve in 2025.
"The last couple months of the season — especially that stretch in August — left a bad taste in a lot of people’s mouths," Skenes told MLB.com's Jim Lachimia in a Q&A. "We were in it up until then and then had a bunch of things not go our way. My hope is, we got that out of our system and we’re going to have more self-awareness in terms of how we’re going to be able to win moving forward. I know the talent here is going to get better. We just need to have an identity and some good camaraderie."
The Pirates went 8-19 in August, which included going on a 10-game losing streak. Within the 10-game losing streak was being swept in a pair of three-game series by the San Diego Padres, who was one of the teams Pittsburgh was chasing for one of the three wild card spots.
Skenes did his part in his rookie season, going 11-3 with a 1.96 ERA in 23 starts and he set a Pirates rookie record with 170 strikeouts over 133 innings pitched. He was the first pitcher in MLB history to have an ERA below 2.20 and over 150 strikeouts in their first 21 games and the second pitcher since 1913 to have an ERA below 2.00 through their first 22 appearances.
The Pirates ace won the 2024 National League Rookie of the Year and was also a finalist for the NL Cy Young Award before finishing in third place. Had Skenes won both awards, he would have been the second pitcher in MLB history to achieve the feat, joining Los Angeles Dodgers left-hander Fernando Valenzuela in 1981.
If the Pirates can learn from the rough stretch that derailed their season, they could be poised to stay in the playoff picture and have a shot to reach the postseason for the first time since 2015. Skenes believes the team isn't far off and can't wait to get the ball rolling in his first full season in the big leagues.
"From there, I’m not going to say nobody is going to stop us, but I like our chances because there are simple and straightforward ways for us to win a lot more games without any huge, sweeping changes. I know I can’t wait for Spring Training to start."
