Pirates Pitching Staff Under Pressure Entering 2025 Season
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Long before arriving at the doorstep of the 2025 season, it wasn't a secret that the anchor of the Pittsburgh Pirates will have to be their pitching staff led by reigning National League Rookie of the Year Paul Skenes.
That notion hasn't changed one bit after the Pirates did little to improve the offense to get more support for their young and ascending pitching staff. If anything, it has been magnified.
MLB.com listed one top storyline for every team heading into Spring Training. For the Pirates, Alex Stumpf, how their young pitching staff performs next season is the one thing that should grab everyone's eye in 2025.
"There’s a lot riding on the Pirates’ young staff, and it’s hard seeing them competing this season if their starting rotation isn’t one of the best in baseball," Stumpf writes. "Paul Skenes, Mitch Keller and Jared Jones are a solid 1-2-3, but eyes will be on Johan Oviedo as he comes back from Tommy John surgery and top prospect Bubba Chandler as he approaches the Majors."
The movement on Paul Skenes’ pitches is mind-blowing ... and it's only January 😳 pic.twitter.com/uuJyHtUj4j
— MLB (@MLB) January 27, 2025
What Skenes does for an encore after a historic rookie season that also had him finish third in the NL Cy Young vote will draw a bevy of eyes every time he steps on the mounds. Few, if any would be shocked if the 6-foot-6 right-hander were to win the NL Cy Young Award in his second big league season.
Skenes is far from the only one to keep your eye on, though. Jared Jones had a solid rookie season but experienced a hiccup in the second half due to a strained right lat. Mitch Keller has also been a consistent presence in the last two seasons, which would be exactly what Pittsburgh needs behind Skenes and Jones.
While there's some uncertainty for the final two spots in the starting rotation, Pittsburgh isn't without its options. Top prospect Bubba Chandler could break camp with the big league club if he has a strong performance in Spring Training and Johan Oviedo pitched well in his last full season in 2023 before missing all of last year due to Tommy John Surgery. Bailey Falter also proved to be capable as a starter last season for Pittsburgh.
While the adage that pitching wins championships has proven to be true more often than not, those expectations would be quite lofty for the Pirates. But if Skenes, Jones and the rest of the rotation have Pittsburgh in position to reach the playoffs for the first time since 2015, that'd be as good a sign as any for the franchise and its hopes of becoming a contender moving forward.
