The Pittsburgh Pirates are 17-19 as of Tuesday afternoon.
One can’t help but think they could be so much better with Paul Skenes, their No. 1 draft pick last year, in the rotation.
Pittsburgh is currently four games behind the top spot in the NL Central division, but once they have Skenes up and with some young performers starting to establish themselves in the majors, they could start making some noise.
The problem is they still have not called him up.
“Pirates not being able to figure out when to call up Skenes is so Pirates,” team insider Mark Kaboly tweeted.
Between knowing which pitcher to boot from the rotation to make room for Skenes, and determining when it’s safe to bring him up and gain another year of service time, the team is missing out on a potential game-changer.
The organization is probably not built to seriously compete this year – although there is a path towards contention – but bringing up Skenes and getting him familiarized with everything that comes within the territory of being in the majors should be an organizational priority this year.
The guy has a brilliant 0.99 ERA in 27.1 innings in Triple-A this year, with eight walks and a whopping 45 strikeouts.
Evidently, he is too good for Triple-A, but the Pirates won’t know if he is ready for MLB unless they bring him up.
Everything points out at a promotion coming no later than a couple of weeks from this point, but with the Pirates, you just never know.
