Breaking Down Paul Skenes’ First Spring Start for Pirates
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On the first day of March, as the calendar turned to a new month, Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitcher Paul Skenes stepped onto the mound at Ed Smith Stadium for the first time in 2025. The symbolic turning of the page and highly-anticipated debut for last season’s National League Rookie of the Year was worth the wait.
Over three innings, Skenes struck out four batters, allowed four hits, gave up one walk and allowed one run. The Pirates defeated the Baltimore Orioles 5-2, but that was hardly the best news of the day for Buccos fans, as Skenes picked up right where he left off in 2024.
Skenes did not waste any time, striking out the first batter he saw, Cedric Mullins, on a sinker in the bottom of the first inning. The diving, hard action away from the hitter had Mullins flailing — a familiar sight when Skenes is on the mound.
He got into a little bit of trouble after facing Mullins, allowing a hard single to Adley Rutschman, then a four-pitch walk to Ryan O’Hearn. The Orioles capitalized on the baserunners when Ryan Mountcasetle hit a groundball back to Skenes. It initially looked like Skenes would be able to get out of the inning with a potential double-play. The Pirates’ phenom relayed the ball to Nick Solak for the first out, but Solak’s throw to first was wild. Rutschman would come around to score on the throwing error.
Skenes would get the final out of the inning on a full-count strikeout against Ramon Laureano. The 99-mph fastball carried the same rising movement that we got accustomed to in Skenes’ brilliant rookie season.
Paul Skenes, 2Ks in the 1st.
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) March 1, 2025
That last "swing." 🤣 pic.twitter.com/H4mu6ji6XN
The bottom of the second began the same way the first ended — with a strikeout. Skenes got Nick Gordon to chase and foul tip another high fastball, this one again touching 99-mph. Skenes would allow a soft single to right field, but got out of the inning unscathed with two groundball outs.
The third inning brought some more action on the basepaths for the Orioles. O’Hearn reached on a throwing error by shortstop Liover Peguero, followed by a groundball single off the bat of Mountcastle. Skenes responded accordingly. A pop out to catcher Joey Bart would give him the second out of the inning. The final batter of Skenes’ afternoon went down just like the first one — striking out swinging. Laureano’s second strikeout of the day on a high heater would end the inning, and Skenes’ start.
Paul Skenes is already dealing. pic.twitter.com/hVJI51IJNl
— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) March 2, 2025
Skenes’ first start was everything that the Pirates organization could have asked for. He showed strong control, throwing 30 of his 53 pitches for strikes. He worked well with baserunners, getting out of two minor jams with key strikeouts. His fastball was humming along at the velocity that we’re used to. The off-speed pitches had bite to them.
The 22-year-old ace also unveiled two new pitches in a live-action game for the first time — a cutter and a two-seam fastball. While he didn’t get any strikeouts with the new pitches in his repertoire, he was still excited about the opportunity to show them off in a real game.
“You’ve got to just mix it in. Learn some stuff about it. But it’s going to be good, I think,” Skenes told MLB.com’s CJ Haddad. “The lineup is kind of irrelevant a bit when you’re working on new stuff, and when you’re working on trying to figure out how they affect each other. The biggest thing was just getting in the zone and seeing where we’re at.”
Pitching Ninja’s Rob Friedman identified Skenes’ cutter in a swing-and-miss from Rutschman. Baseball Twitter went crazy over the reveal, as it appears to be an out pitch already for him. It looks like Skenes added another lethal weapon to his already loaded arsenal.
Paul Skenes, New Cutter? pic.twitter.com/T9pRvmxAjJ
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) March 1, 2025
This is only the beginning of Skenes’ transition to his sophomore season in the big leagues. If his first start is any indicator of how his year is going to go, then baseball fans are in for a treat.
Skenes is expected to start against the Orioles again this upcoming Thursday. The game’s first pitch will be at 6:05 EST.
Ethan Merrill is from Grand Rapids, MI, and brings with him a diverse background of experiences. After graduating from Michigan State University with a degree in journalism, he worked with the Arizona Diamondbacks for three seasons before settling in the Pittsburgh area in 2020. With a passion for sports and a growing connection to his community, Ethan brings a fresh perspective to covering the Pittsburgh Pirates.