Perrotto: Pirates Keeping Close Eye on Paul Skenes’ Odometer

Paul Skenes, like every other pitcher, has a figurative odometer attached to his arm.

Each inning and every pitch are accounted for in professional baseball. Those counts are magnified in the case of Skenes as the Pittsburgh Pirates rookie sensation is in the latter stages of his first full professional season.

Skenes will take the mound Wednesday afternoon against the Chicago Cubs at PNC Park having made 17 starts and pitched 104 innings since his major-league debut on May 11. He has thrown at least 84 pitches in each outing and topped 100 pitches seven times.

Add in the seven starts and 27.1 innings he logged at Triple-A Indianapolis before being promoted and Skenes’ season totals are 24 starts and 131.1 innings.

That may not seem like much, especially for a specimen like the 6-foot-6, 250-pound Skenes. However, he has exceeded last year’s innings total of 129.1 between leading LSU to the College World Series title and five brief appearances in the minor leagues after being selected first overall in the amateur.

However, things will begin to get tricky for the Pirates in handling Skenes’ workload between now and the end of the season on Sept. 29. They want Skenes to pitch through September but don’t want his imaginary odometer to roll over.

Getting through a six-month season is a hurdle mentally and physically for a rookie, maybe more so for a player in his full professional year, especially when the minor-league season usually wraps up on Labor Day.

“Pitching late into September is important because you don’t know what it’s like until you do it,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “You don’t know what it’s like to make your final couple starts in September, whenever they are, to realize, ‘Hey man, this is a long season and this is what you’ve got to prepare for.

“You have to be physically healthy to be able to do the mental, but the mental component is huge and you will hear guys that once they get through it, they talk about how they train differently, what they do in the offseason, how they prepare because of that.”

Skenes seemed to be fading when he went 1-1 with a 4.15 ERA in a three-start span from Aug. 4-16. However, he was dominant in his most recent outing last Thursday when he pitched six shutout innings to beat the Cincinnati Reds, allowing just two hits and striking out nine.

Skenes is now 8-2 with a 2.16 ERA in his 17 starts.

Skenes has admittedly wondered how his body would react to such a long season. The outing against the Reds was a good sign.

“Obviously the goal is to go out there and pitch well every start, but I think it is important in terms of how much of this is a learning experience and that kind of thing,” Skenes said. “Because this is my first professional season and it’s just so different with the travel and how long the season is, pitching on shorter rest, all that.

“Feeling good. Not necessarily surprised by that but pleased with it, with how good I’m feeling right now. You just got to keep working and sprint to the end of the season here.”

The Pirates will likely alter Skenes’ schedule and have already decided he will not pitch unless he has at least five days of rest for the remainder of the season. They might also skip his turn in the rotation or limit his innings and pitch count in some starts.

There is no exact formula, even in this analytic-dominated era, to get Skenes to the finish line and it’s still a month away.