As Jim Leyland held court with reporters in August, hours after he had been enshrined into the Pirates Hall of Fame, the longtime skipper was asked to compare the current iteration of the Bucs to his clubs from the early ¡®90s. It¡¯s an impossible task, especially since those division-winning teams happened to have the eventual all-time home run leader on the team, but Leyland obliged.
"They probably don't have a Barry Bonds,¡± Leyland said. ¡°They've definitely got a Doug Drabek now.¡±
Making comparisons to athletes of yesteryear is one of the quirks of a sports-obsessed city like Pittsburgh. When that passion for its teams runs so deep, there¡¯s a shared collective of experiences and memories that can create a shorthand to explain a scenario or individual based off of one player. You could pontificate about the Pirates needing to add a veteran middle-of-the-order bat/corner outfielder to get them over the hump -- or you could just say, ¡°they need their Marlon Byrd trade" -- and any fan who was there in 2013 and worth their weight in I.C. Light will know exactly what you mean. The bullpen doesn¡¯t just need a stud lefty who can pitch the eighth; they need a Tony Watson.
And for decades, when Pittsburghers talked about needing an ace pitcher, Drabek has been the example: a 22-game winner you can turn to in a big game and feel like you¡¯re going to end up on top.
"To be an ace, that may be a several-year process where you¡¯re there for an extended period of time,¡± Drabek said over the phone. ¡° ... I wanted to be good and consistent. If it equaled or came to be an ¡®ace,¡¯ that¡¯s fine. If not, as long as I was contributing to the team, I think [that] was the main thing.¡±
That consistent success led to individual accolades for Drabek, highlighted by winning the 1990 Cy Young Award. He never felt like a frontrunner for the award, but as the Pirates closed in on a division title that year he wound up at the top of all but one Cy Young ballot.
Since the Cy Young Award¡¯s inception in 1956, only two Pirates have won it: Drabek and Vern Law (1960). It¡¯s a very select group, but one that could expand in the near future.
¡°If someone else would add their name to it,¡± Drabek said, ¡°that would be great also.¡±
If anyone is going to join Drabek and Law in Pirates history this year, it¡¯s Paul Skenes. For the first time in at least a generation, the Pirates will enter the season with a Cy Young favorite at the top of their rotation -- a wunderkind whose starts have become appointment viewing for fans who are preparing for the encore after his titanic rookie campaign.
Driven toward excellence and winning, his work ethic forged by his time in the Air Force Academy, Skenes has become a household name -- but he¡¯s hardly the rock star type. That newfound celebrity and lethal pitch mix have put him in the public light, but he¡¯s mainly the same guy he was when the Pirates drafted him 20 months ago, the only difference appearing to be him just feeling a little more comfortable with the spectacle that has become his work life.
Sometimes that¡¯s seen in Skenes making a joke to the media; other times, by feeding assists as the starting pitchers shoot a miniature basketball in the LECOM Park clubhouse.
Perhaps the best encapsulation of Skenes¡¯ demeanor is the meme that was born the night he was named the 2024 National League Rookie of the Year. As the celebration began, Skenes remained deadpan for a beat or two longer than expected before eventually cracking a smile.
"If you look at when Skip pulled me into the office and told me I was starting Opening Day, it was pretty much the same reaction. It's just how I am,¡± Skenes said. ¡°I didn't know I was starting Opening Day. I didn't know I was winning Rookie of the Year. It's just how I am. You can ask my parents, my girlfriend, all that. It's just how I am."
Skenes will be getting the ball first for the Pirates on Thursday against the Marlins at loanDepot park in a matchup against the 2022 Cy Young award winner, Sandy Alcantara. We may reflect someday soon that it was a game between a recent and future Cy Young winner. And maybe one day when Yinzers reflect on needing a pitcher who could wow you everytime he took to the mound, it could be simplified to: ¡°We need another Paul Skenes.¡±
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Few pitchers have had a meteoric rise like Skenes. He ascended from a relatively unknown two-way player with the Air Force in 2022 to a collegiate national champion with LSU and first overall Draft pick in 2023 to the NL Rookie of the Year in 2024. In terms of individual accolades, a Cy Young is the next logical step in the progression, and after finishing third for the award through just 23 starts last year, it¡¯s very much in the realm of possibility.
Only one pitcher has ever won Rookie of the Year and then followed with a Cy Young the next season. That was Dwight Gooden, who did so in 1984-85 with the Mets.
Gooden is one of the few pitchers in recent memory who knows what it¡¯s like to pitch -- and excel -- under the weight of extraordinary external expectations. It can be taxing on a young man. Gooden recalled one game against Fernando Valenzuela where he pitched well, but only struck out four. He was asked about it postgame, and while he gave the polite answer, he carried that question longer than he should have. Why did he only strike out four?
¡°When you have a lot of success early, the expectation grows, even with yourself,¡± Gooden said. ¡°Sometimes you set the bar so high where everything you do is compared to that. I think he should always realize what he¡¯s trying to do and accomplish, what his goals are and stay within himself. And what I mean by that is don¡¯t let the outside noise control what you¡¯re there to do.¡±
Skenes understands what it¡¯s like to feel the pressure of incredible expectations.
But nobody expects more from Paul Skenes than himself.
"If anything, it would be pitching down to other people¡¯s expectations, the way I think about it,¡± Skenes said. ¡°The expectations I have for myself are different than what everybody else outside has, and everybody else outside doesn¡¯t matter. He¡¯s not wrong at all because there are a lot of people out there wanting autographs and all that, and that doesn¡¯t happen if you don¡¯t pitch well.
¡°All that¡¯s great, but at the end of the day it¡¯s just what¡¯s inside me that¡¯s going to be dictating how well I sleep at night.¡±
Skenes does his best to try to ignore the outside noises. He tries not to read what¡¯s written about him and stays off social media. Sometimes, though, it¡¯s unavoidable.
When warming up for his final Spring Training start on Saturday, a fan called out that Skenes should throw a no-hitter that day. It¡¯s a ridiculous request, except it somehow feels like a possibility every time he takes the mound. Twice last year Skenes had starts where he went at least six innings, exited without allowing a hit and struck out 11 batters. The only other pitcher to do that multiple times in the same season was Nolan Ryan in 1973.
The ironic part about those two starts? Skenes ¡°felt like crap¡± before taking the field when he tossed his gem against the Brewers. And flirting with a no-hitter was the last thing on his mind when he did so against the Cubs in just his second Major League start.
¡°I think it¡¯s funny because those outings specifically, I didn¡¯t really have any expectations,¡± Skenes said. ¡°That happens because I go out there and don¡¯t really give a damn and just pitch and execute.
"Like, what¡¯s the worst that can happen?¡± Skenes continued, giving a chuckle. ¡°You give up some runs? Who cares?¡±
That devil-may-care attitude to pitching is almost as much a gift as his 100 mph fastball or world-class ¡°splinker.¡± Last year, in his first matchup against the Dodgers, Skenes fanned Shohei Ohtani on three fastballs the first at-bat before giving up a home run in the second. Skenes was caught smiling as Ohtani rounded the bases in the eventual Pirates win, chalking up the punchout and the homer as what happens when it¡¯s a ¡°big-on-big¡± matchup.
And entering 2025, few are as big as Skenes.
"You can¡¯t create wow moments. They¡¯re going to happen by themselves,¡± Skenes said. ¡°Honestly, as I look at the mirror and look at myself, the wow moments kind of happen when I least expect them. All that happens because you execute consistently and routinely and you do stuff right. It doesn¡¯t happen because somebody yelled at you at the bullpen to do it.¡±
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Walking down the tunnels at PNC Park, you pass murals of the award winners in franchise history on the way to the home clubhouse. Some players are from 100 years ago: batting champions Ginger Beaumont and Honus Wagner, NL MVP Paul Waner. Some are contemporary: Gold Glove Award winners Ke¡¯Bryan Hayes and Jared Triolo, MVP Andrew McCutchen.
Law and Drabek stand alone on the pitching side, outside of some Gold Glovers and Silver Sluggers sprinkled into those respective categories. While the murals are done to honor the past, there¡¯s an unspoken undertone that the franchise hasn¡¯t had the best pitcher in the league in decades.
Today, Skenes is that face of the franchise, one of the main reasons why the baseball nation turns its attention to the banks of the Allegheny River once every five games. It¡¯s so overt, it¡¯s already been the subject of parody. When MLB Network came to Bradenton, Fla., for Pirates Spring Training earlier this month, the intro video was Skenes taping up Andrew McCutchen, who is telling the young starter that if he plays his cards right, people will one day know his name, like Roberto Clemente, Willie Stargell and, of course, Andrew McCutchen.
There¡¯s a chance that Skenes one day could be in that discussion of greatest player in franchise history. The weight of the franchise¡¯s history, and their lack of recent success, is certainly felt. When asked if he felt those expectations of being the face of the team, Skenes didn¡¯t answer it with a ¡°yes¡± or a ¡°no.¡± Instead, the 22-year-old with the golden arm and seemingly infinite potential gave a peek into what drives him.
¡°I think we owe something to the city,¡± Skenes said. ¡°We owe a lot to the city. It¡¯s our job to go out and win for the city because this is bigger than all of us. There¡¯s a reason why Cutch keeps coming back, and specifically to Pittsburgh. There¡¯s something about this city. We saw it last summer. We¡¯ve seen it in the videos of the Wild Card Game. I¡¯m tired of watching them because it was a Wild Card Series. The bar needs to be set pretty high. Not taking anything from those guys. The fact that that¡¯s a golden era of recent Pirates baseball, that needs to change. We owe it to the city.¡±
So when you talk about Drabek and Law and maybe one day Skenes, it¡¯s not a chase to join Pittsburgh pitching royalty. It¡¯s about a quest to do what those other pitchers did: Bring a winner to the city.
"We¡¯ve got a legacy here,¡± Skenes said. ¡°Got to keep it going. They left the jersey in a better spot than they found it. That¡¯s what I¡¯m trying to do, and what we¡¯re all trying to do.¡±