'I have no idea why that has to be a fastball': How a new pitching philosophy is keeping the Red Sox afloatTim Kurkjian breaks down why he believes Paul Skenes is ready to move up to the big leagues with the Pittsburgh Pirates. considered how to unleash the best pitching prospect in a generation on the baseball world, they landed on a plan with which they felt entirely comfortable and positively uncomfortable.
If we judge Skenes' success on outcome over process, all has gone according to plan. Skenes has been everything he's supposed to be: 6-foot-6 and 235 pounds of dominance, with an average fastball of 100 mph and four other pitches with which he befuddles hitters. Less than a year out from a College World Series appearance, he has a 0.99 ERA with 45 strikeouts in 27.1 innings for Triple-A Indianapolis this season.
"He knew what he needed to do, but he didn't know how. He was hunting the how," Johnson said."We got in there, and from his diet to learning a slider, we helped him figure that out." At one point during the season that would end with Skenes winning the College World Series' Most Outstanding Player for the national champion Tigers, he asked to meet with Johnson to assess his progress. During the conversation, Johnson said, Skenes seemed to finally realize what would soon become clear to anyone watching him.
"It sounds so simple, but it's very hard for people to do that. And we see some of that in Paul. Different players, different personalities, different people. But that relationship with the feedback he's getting about what his pitches are doing, what his delivery is doing, this is the target of where they want it to be. Those adjustments happen quickly."
"We took him 1-1. We really, really think highly of him," Cherington said."We're placing a very strong bet on him and have believed since the day we drafted him that he's going to be a really good major league starting pitcher. But pitching is hard to predict a week from now, let alone a year from now."From just three A's to one unlikely F, we break down whether your team is acing -- or flunking -- the early part of 2024.
"I really don't believe it's played any role in this case. I really mean this," Cherington said."We decided in spring training that ... we wanted to build the volume more slowly than an established major league starter would. Once we made that decision, functionally, it has to start in the minor leagues."