Paul Skenes, the Pirates’ top pitching prospect and boyfriend of LSU gymnastics star Olivia Dunne, saw his scoreless innings streak come to an end at 14 1/3 frames on Wednesday. Making his fifth start of the year with Triple-A Indianapolis, Skenes allowed two runs – only one of which was earned — in 4 ⅓ innings of work. Despite the setback, Skenes still struck out seven batters and threw a season-high 71 pitches. The outing was the first that Skenes had gone beyond four innings in his professional career.
The No. 1 overall draft pick in 2023, Skenes averaged 99.2 mph on his four-seam fastball Wednesday and hit at least 100 mph on two of his pitches in what ended up being a 7-4 win for Indianapolis. The LSU product threw 50 of his 71 total pitches for strikes while turning to his fastball 26 times, splinker 22 times, changeup in five instances, sweeper four times and curveball once.
Skenes’ success in Triple-A has raised the question of at what point will he get the call up to the majors. The Pirates have been purposefully taking it slow with his development, which led to him voicing some frustration after he was pulled from last Thursday’s start on in the fourth inning. Pirates general manager Ben Cherington told 93.7 The Fan in a recent interview that the team was being “very intentional about how we’re building his volume.”
“We don’t want to go from zero to 100 right away. Paul’s so important to us long term, so we want to be really thoughtful about that,” Cherington said. He told the Associated Press Wednesday that Skenes still has things he’s working on in Triple-A.
“He’s working on things that will allow him to be a good major league pitcher more than just he’s trying to be a good AAA pitcher,” Cherington said. “The guy that’s gonna live on ground balls and nine-pitch innings, that may not be him,” Cherington added. “It’s efficiency related to who he is as a pitcher. That’s what we’re going after.”
While the Pirates may be taking their time with Skenes, his LSU gymnastics star girlfriend is already planning for when he makes it to the majors. Dunne told TMZ that she “had no clue” when he would be called up but is hoping it’s soon .
“I’m starting to get all my merch ready. I have my outfits picked out,” she told the outlet.
