PITTSBURG Pirates star Paul Skenes has yet to make his MLB debut — and the pitcher, who is dating gymnastics star Olivia Dunne, apparently isn’t sure when the opportunity might arise.
The former No. 1 pick is shining at Triple-A, having started the 2024 season with Pittsburgh’s minor league affiliate, the Indianapolis Indians.
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Skenes, 21, recorded his fourth consecutive scoreless game in Indianapolis’ 6-5 victory over the St. Paul Saints on Thursday.
The former Louisiana State University standout threw a career-high 65 pitches in 3.1 innings and had eight strikeouts, giving up just one hit and two walks.
Overall, he recorded 27 Ks in just 12.2 innings in his four starts for the Indians, making a strong case for a promotion to the majors.
But Skenes said he had no idea when he might head to MLB when asked about his prospects in a recent appearance on The Pat McAfee Show.
“I’ll be honest, guys,” the Pirates pitcher said Friday.
“You know as well as I do when I’m coming up.”
In addition to waiting for his MLB debut, Skenes expressed frustration with his limited workload after throwing just a third of his total innings against the St. Louis Cardinals.
“I wasn’t happy” the right-hander said.
“But it’s over [Indians manager Miguel Perez’s] head. It’s above my head.”
He added, “I just have to compete. There’s nothing I can do. It’s just compete and execute.”
McAfee, 36, asked Skenes about pitchers who apparently record fewer complete games these days in the age of analytics to prolong their careers.
Dunne’s boyfriend — who officially had two complete games for LSU, although he only worked 7.0 innings in one of them due to the activation of the mercy rule — said his pro career wasn’t long enough for him to offer insight into the trend .
But the pitcher said he’s not afraid of a heavy workload, having experienced some action-packed periods in the past.
“I spent three or four weeks in a row last year throwing 120 pitches,” he said.
Just compete. There’s nothing I can do. It’s just about competing and executing
Paulo Skenes
“I don’t know. My body felt great while I did this.
“I still think it’s something I can do – but it’s definitely different than it used to be.”
Pirates general manager Ben Cherington recently said the franchise is purposely being careful with Skenes’ workload.
“With Paul, we’ve been very intentional about how we’re increasing his volume in the season with the goal of really accomplishing two things,” he said on 93.7 The Fan, a Pittsburgh sports radio station.
“One is trying to get him to an appropriate total volume for 2024, coming off last year when he pitched a full college season and then just a little pro ball.
“We don’t want to go from zero to 100 right away.
“Paul is so important to us in the long term, so we want to be really mindful of that.”
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