BRADENTON, Fla. — Paul Skenes sensed something felt different the first time he took the mound for the Pittsburgh Pirates this spring, once he looked at a lineup that featured All-Star additions.
The Pirates won the inaugural MLB Draft lottery then sat on the winning ticket after selecting Skenes first overall in 2023.
Despite dominant pitching performances that resulted in the 23-year-old right-hander winning National League Rookie of the Year honors in 2024 and the NL Cy Young Award in a unanimous vote last season, pundits pummeled the Pirates for failing to invest in the team around him.
It wasn’t until they completed a 91-loss season by finishing last in the NL Central, 26 games out of first place even with arguably the best pitcher in baseball, that the Pirates were shamed into spending. They acquired left-handed reliever Gregory Soto, second baseman Brandon Lowe, first baseman/right fielder Ryan O’Hearn and designated hitter Marcell Ozuna, who have a combined eight All-Star appearances.
Suddenly, Skenes was surrounded by star power.
“Last year was a little bit of fake-it-until-you-make-it, which is not something I’d recommend or believe in,” Skenes told TribLive. “I’m looking out there while I’m pitching, and I see the defense behind me and I’m like, ‘This is different. This is cool.’ Seeing the players but seeing the people that are on the field, watching some of their at-bats, just how competitive they are, it’s good to see.”
Is it good enough to end a decade-long drought and push the Pirates to the playoffs?
For all of the stardom of Skenes, he learned that his brilliance on the mound was being wasted by a lack of run support. Skenes posted baseball’s best ERA (1.97) and ERA (217) and quality starts in 20 of his 32 outings only to become the first starting pitcher to win the Cy Young with a record of .500 or worse (10-10).
The Pirates were anemic offensively, finishing last in the majors in home runs, RBIs, slugging percentage and OPS. Their shortcomings were reflected by their 17-15 record in Skenes’ starts, as they averaged 3.42 runs in those 32 games. The Athletic reported that with league-average run support (4.26), Skenes would have an incredible 41-3 record through his first 55 career starts instead of his pedestrian 21-13 mark.
That prompted Pirates chairman Bob Nutting to pump the payroll past $100 million for the first time in franchise history. General manager Ben Cherington was given the green light to be aggressive in free agency and trades, which came with an ultimatum to make the playoffs that team president Travis Williams punctuated with a “period, full stop.”
Cherington started by signing Soto, a two-time All-Star with high-leverage experience, to a one-year deal worth $7.75 million. Then he swung a three-team trade, sending starting pitcher Mike Burrows to the Houston Astros and acquiring three players from the Tampa Bay Rays. The headliner was Lowe, a two-time All-Star who had 31 home runs and 83 RBIs last season and has a 39-homer, 99-RBI season on his resume.
It gave the Pirates an immediate air of legitimacy.
“It’s great that the team thinks that. You want guys to be excited,” Lowe said. “When the trade did happen, I was pretty excited about the guys that I was going to call my teammates and the talent that’s here. I was like, ‘I hope they keep adding’ — and they did.”
Cherington had some big whiffs, swinging and missing in his pursuit of free-agent sluggers Josh Naylor and Kyle Schwarber before signing Ryan O’Hearn to a two-year, $29 million deal that marked their first multi-year free agent contract since December 2016.
But the Pirates weren’t done. They made the unpopular decision to part ways with franchise icon Andrew McCutchen, who spent the past three seasons as designated hitter, to sign three-time All-Star Ozuna to a $12 million deal. The trio of newcomers combined for 69 home runs and 215 RBIs last season, providing the promise of a power surge.
“We feel we improved the team. It’s never enough. The reason it’s never enough is the most important thing is the guys in the uniform coming together, doing it together every day,” Cherington said. “More of our focus turns to, who do we want to be every day. How do we behave? What’s our language. What’s our process? How do we put ourselves in better position to win games? Yeah, we feel better about the roster but we’ve got to go execute. And execution comes from every day behaviors, every day process. We feel good that that’s what our players are focused on.”
That requires creating a winning culture, a task that falls upon Don Kelly. The Mt. Lebanon and Point Park alum was promoted from bench coach on May 8 to replace Derek Shelton as manager after a 12-26 start.
A former Pirates player and protégé of Hall of Fame manager Jim Leyland, Kelly has emphasized the importance of positive messaging and the need for everyone to pull in the same direction. Having veterans with postseason experience in Lowe, O’Hearn and Ozuna has bolstered the belief that the Pirates can become contenders.
“I think it’s huge,” said Pirates right-hander Mitch Keller, a 2024 All-Star who has the longest tenure with the club. “They come into the locker room with the sense of urgency that we’re expecting to win. They haven’t been here in the past, where we haven’t been winning. I think that floats over guys’ heads from season to season, so having some guys who are from winning cultures, bringing them in has been awesome.”
With Skenes anchoring a rotation that features Keller and a top-15 prospect in rookie right-hander Bubba Chandler, the starting pitching is not only a strength but the foundation for the Pirates. By bringing in lefties Soto and Mason Montgomery, the bullpen is expected to be deeper. The offseason acquisitions lengthened the lineup and provide protection for Oneil Cruz (20 home runs, 38 stolen bases) and Bryan Reynolds, a two-time All-Star who is switching from right field to left.
“It’s definitely been different so far. It feels different. Everybody knows that and feels it, too,” Reynolds said. “We’re starting to build a different culture in here and trying to get to winning.”
Rather than avoid playoff talk, Kelly is embracing the expectations. He has World Series experience as a player for the Detroit Tigers and as first-base coach for the Houston Astros. Now, Kelly wants nothing more than to lead his hometown team back to postseason prominence.
“When you come into spring, that’s what you want. You want to have a team that you feel like can win. That’s what we have,” Kelly said. “Hopefully everybody doesn’t feel like they have to be the guy and the aspect of competing together, we’re all going to have each other’s backs. Finding ways to win is going to be a big part of it.”
The biggest storyline of spring training is that the Pirates have baseball’s consensus No. 1 prospect in Konnor Griffin, a 19-year-old shortstop who was the minor league player of the year and is being billed as a future superstar. The 6-foot-4, 225-pounder is a five-tool talent who dominated three levels last season and won a MiLB Gold Glove but has only 98 plate appearances above Single-A ball.
It’s been forever since the Pirates have been connected to anything consensus or unanimous. They have one of each in Griffin and Skenes.
“We’re fortunate to be a Pirate with those two guys on the team,” Kelly said. “We’ve talked a ton about Paul in the past, just the way he goes about it with the work ethic. You see the talent, but it’s everything in between the days that he starts that makes him elite. Konnor Griffin has that same type of talent and same type of mentality that he doesn’t just want to be good and make it to the big leagues. He wants to be great and win. When you have two guys that are talented continuing to work themselves and push other people around them to be better, it’s a great combination.”