"No timeline, but he's really important to us" - Pirates management still waiting to unleash Paul Skenes for debut start

Paul Skenes, a highly promising player from the Pittsburgh Pirates, is eagerly waiting for his call-up in the major league. However, the team management has decided to not rush with their prized prospect's highly anticipated debut.

Recently, Ben Cherington, the general manager of the Pirates, discussed a tentative schedule for Skenes' debut in MLB. However, he didn't mention any specific timeline. But Cherington's positive outlook suggests that the date may not be too far away.

“Paul's doing everything to show that there's a chance that he can really help us in 2024. And what we're doing is trying to put him in a position to do that safely and effectively, said Cherington on MLB Network Radio. “We kind of had that in the back of our mind when we drafted Paul and getting to know him this spring.”

Currently, the 21-year-old pitcher is part of the Pittsburgh Pirates’ affiliated triple-A team Indianapolis Indians. He played two games this year with the big league side during the spring training, in which he threw only three innings. In the AAA league, he started two games and didn't concede any runs in six innings.

“He's going to start to build pitch count as we get deeper into April, confident that he'll handle that really well and we'll see where that leads us. No timeline,” Cherington added. “He's really important to us, and we think that he certainly has the ability to help us potentially this year.”

Pittsburgh Pirates have a great start to the regular season

The Pittsburgh Pirates had a strong start to the current season after last year's disastrous performance. So far, after nine games, they are leading the division with seven wins.

They started their season with a bang, sweeping the Miami Marlins 4-0 in the Opening series at LoanDepot Park. They were dominant in their performance, scoring 31 runs while conceding only 17. Although they almost swept the Washington Nationals as well, they lost the second game 3-5, marking their first loss of the season.

After losing the first game 2-5 to the Baltimore Orioles on Friday, they bounced back with a 4-5 win the very next outing. Today's game will determine whether the Pirates can continue their winning streak or if the Orioles will clinch the series.

Currently, Oneil Cruz is leading the team in most hits (14) and home runs (2), while Bryan Reynolds has contributed the most RBIs (9) for them. LHP Martin Perez is leading the rotation with a 2.45 ERA in 11 innings in two starts.