re: Paul Skenes continues to dominate AAA - 6IP, 7Ks, 4H, 1BB as his ERA falls to 0.39

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Service time aside, he’s thrown 23 minor league innings. He’s gone through a full lineup twice a total of 1 time. He’s not going to be called up to pitch an inning or two of relief every other day, he’s going to be called up as a starter. There’s no reason to rush him before until he’s at least closer to averaging 75 pitches a game (his minors high so far). He’ll be up by June

There’s also been a serious trend of power pitcher injuries and the Pirates aren’t going to be stupid about it. He’s 21 and the likely cornerstone of that franchise for a decade. They aren’t competing for a WS this year and will likely be out of the playoff picture early. Gradually easing him in with several more AAA outings, giving him his first taste of the majors over the summer, and shutting him down early fall is 100% what they should be doing

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Right, but there is no evidence that babying the arm and placing these pitch count and innings limits on pitchers is reducing injuries. Guys are getting hurt left and right even when clubs are careful with them. Skenes himself has indicated that he's wanted to throw more often than they've allowed.

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The service time thing makes some sense, but it's also not as relevant for pitchers since they get hurt all the time these days. You need to get what you can out of them while they are still affordable and healthy. There is no guarantee this guy is going to be some decade-long cornerstone player.

And if he comes up and wins ROY, they get an extra draft pick, which was supposed to incentivize teams to call up their best prospects when they're ready, which Skenes very clearly is. With the expanded playoffs, no one is out of it at this point (except the truly awful teams like the White Sox). Play to win games with your best players.

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Gradually easing him in with several more AAA outings, giving him his first taste of the majors over the summer, and shutting him down early fall is 100% what they should be doing

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Teams should just have these power pitchers start their season later than everyone else. There is no sense in pitching your best pitcher in April just to shut him down in the playoffs. You end up just wasting the player instead of protecting them.