BRADENTON, Fla. — With the first true off day of spring training arriving on Wednesday, Paul Skenes was preparing for a welcomed deviation from his daily routine.
Skenes, who has taken up golf as a hobby, was going to hit some balls at a nearby range.
“I’m working on it,” Skenes said, talking about his nascent golf game. “I’m not thinking about anything other than golf when I’m there. Just trying to hit the ball straight.”
My point here isn’t the accuracy of Skenes’ drives or his short game, but more his natural curiosity and never-ending desire to learn and improve. It might be his best trait.
Sure, his mountainous build commands attention. So do his massive hands and tree-trunk legs. Gifts from the baseball gods.
But never look past what Skenes has between the ears. It’s truly something else.
After winning the National League Rookie of the Year and finishing third in Cy Young voting after last season, it would be easy for some to take a victory lap or start digging themselves. Not even close for Skenes.
A taste of success has left him wanting more and more.
“Success is a crack rock, honestly,” Skenes told me during our one-on-one chat at LECOM Park on Wednesday.
I joked with Skenes that it might be tough for me to write that before he cut me off:
“But that’s how I think about it. It’s little wins, whatever it is. If you figure out a new pitch, the light goes off, you just want to keep doing it. It’s very important because there’s always something to do better. Always. No matter who you are.
“You look at the best guys around the league now ... shoot, the best guys in the history of sports, that’s how they think. That’s how they go about their business.”
Again, not sure I could love it more — the insatiability, the awareness of how other great athletes think, the refusal to sip lemonade by the pool, as former Pirates manager Clint Hurdle might say.
It’s scary — no, fun — to think what Skenes might accomplish with his physical and mental gifts, plus the self-awareness and internal drive that puts him on the same level as Sidney Crosby for me.
Watching Skenes, I can’t help but make the comparison to Crosby, who famously drilled deeper into faceoffs earlier in his career and mastered that part of the game. Nobody in NHL history has won more.
I’ve also watched Sid take about a bazillion one-timers from the circles (while his teammates glide around before practice), and the back half of his career has featured a Steve Yzerman-style evolution when it comes to his two-way game.
Skenes isn’t much of a hockey guy, at least not yet, but he approaches his job the same way. Never satisfied. There’s always something else he can learn, always a way he can get better.
“That’s been the focus of the offseason, the focus of spring training,” Skenes said. “Just being better than last year, frankly.”
Wednesday felt like a good time to reflect on the entire Skenes journey, as the Pirates’ 9-1 victory somehow represented his first regular Grapefruit League start at LECOM Park. He previously had started only the Spring Breakout game here.
After he finished, SportsNet Pittsburgh’s Hannah Mears asked Skenes about the experience. His answer: He wished he didn’t give up a run. You can’t make that up. Talk about expecting perfection.
By the time Skenes got to the writers, he was a little easier on himself. But the fact remains: Every start has a purpose. There’s something to be gleaned from every out and every pitch.
“Just have to be more efficient,” Skenes said after allowing an earned run while striking out five in four innings, throwing 74 pitches. “A lot of weak contact, missing barrels, just have to fine-tune the misses a little bit.”
Skenes wanted to pitch off of his fastball more and did it. He also got some free work on his pickoffs, nailing Spencer Jones and nearly Anthony Volpe, too. It’s another part of Skenes’ game that I love: No detail is too small. He’s a huge proponent of controlling the running game.
“That’s a forgotten part of the game,” Skenes said. “I don’t know why it’s not more of an emphasis point.”
Like he needed more filthy stuff, Skenes has also been toying with a sinker and cutter this spring. His splinker remains a fairly new creation, too.
Always learning, always improving.
It’s just sort of the way Skenes has always been — the mindset, intensity and love of learning that carried him to Air Force, allowed him to master hitting and pitching and also caused him to nerd out after transferring to LSU and toying around the SEC powerhouse’s panoply of pitching tech.
Now, Skenes is getting to learn on a bigger stage, in front of our eyes, while already being the best pitcher in baseball. It’s already been a blast to see, and I can’t wait for more.
"[Constantly hunting improvement] has gotten tougher as everything has grown,” Skenes said. “But the focus is always learning and improving because I know if I pitch like [crap], it goes away very quickly.”
First Published: March 12, 2025, 9:30 a.m.
Updated: March 13, 2025, 2:42 a.m.
