Perrotto: Bucco Malaise Hasn’t Struck Paul Skenes Yet

The Pittsburgh Pirates’ late-season collapse hasn’t caused Paul Skenes to lose faith.

The rookie pitching sensation believes the Pirates have a bright future. He is not fazed by the August collapse in which the Pirates went from 2.5 games out of the last National League wild card to oblivion.

“I don’t know if we know what we can do,” Skenes said Friday night before the Pirates and Washington Nationals were rained out at PNC Park

“We can’t, in the same way that we can’t put limits on ourselves as players, in terms of how we’re going to go about our business and what we can accomplish in a given year. It’s the same thing with the team. It starts with speaking it into existence and then you’ve got to verbalize our goals. We’ve got to do what we need to do to accomplish those things. It’s nice to know who the core of the roster is going to be. Now we’ve just got to do it.

Of course, that is easier said than done for the Pirates, who are on their way to their 28^th losing season in 32 years.

Yet as Skenes said, the Pirates have some core players they feel they can count on after mostly rebuilding since general manager Ben Cherington and manager Derek Shelton were hired following the 2019 season. Among them are third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes (if he can ever overcome his back problems), left fielder Bryan Reynolds and center fielder Oneil Cruz.

What has Skenes particularly excited, though, is the long-term prospects of the starting rotation that he fronts and includes Mitch Keller, rookie Jared Jones, Luis Ortiz and left-hander Bailey Falter. Keller and Falter are under club contractual control through 2028 and the others through 2029.

The Pirates also have right-handers Bubba Chandler and Thomas Harrington at Triple-A Indianapolis. Baseball America ranks Chandler as the 22^nd-best prospect in the game and has Harrington at No. 91.

“That’s stuff that we talk about, for sure. It’s cool,” Skenes said. “It’s nice to know that I have confidence in all the guys that are here right now, plus the guys like Bubba and Thomas and whoever else in Double-A. Hunter Barco is up there, too, for me – a bunch of guys that are going to be very good. We don’t know how good they’re going to be yet – I don’t even know if we know how good we’re going to be – but the sky’s the limit.”

The sky hasn’t been the limit for the Pirates since 2015 when they won 98 games but lost to the Chicago Cubs in the NL wild-card game.

However, the emergence of Skenes one year after he was the first overall pick in the amateur draft from LSU, gives the Pirates hope. The 22-year-old is a strong NL Rookie of the Year candidate with a 9-2 record, 2.13 ERA and 142 strikeouts in 114 innings over 19 starts.

Skenes’ next start is scheduled for Monday night against the Miami Marlins at PNC Park. There will be 19 games left in the season at that point and it is unclear how many more times Skenes will pitch.

“I’m not 100% sure. I’ve got an idea,” Skenes said. “At the end of the day, it’s just going out there and executing. A month left, hopefully more. I’ve just got to go out there every five or six days, whenever I get the ball.”

Skenes is optimistic when he says he hopes the Pirates have more than a month left in the season, The Pirates’ postseason chances are miniscule as they are 10 games out of the last wild card.

Yet at least Skenes is still optimistic despite all the losing. The Bucco Malaise hasn’t set in when a young player begins believing the Pirates are never destined to win and can’t wait to get out of town.

That’s a good sign.