Pirates ace Paul Skenes tinkering with two new pitches

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BRADENTON, Fla. -- Paul Skenes is entering 2025 more at ease with his role as ace of the Pittsburgh Pirates' staff. He also might be entering the year with a couple of new pitches.

Coming off an electrifying 2024, the reigning National League Rookie of the Year is tinkering with adding a cutter and a running two-seam fastball to an arsenal that already includes a four-seamer that tops out north of 100 mph and a "splinker" that was one of the best put-away pitches in the majors last season.

"Just trying to create more swing decisions," Skenes said.

Or, nondecisions.

Veteran second baseman Adam Frazier, who reunited with the Pirates last month, volunteered to be the first batter to face Skenes during a live batting practice on Saturday. The first pitch the left-handed-hitting Frazier saw was a splinker that darted down and away while catching the outside corner of the strike zone.

Frazier's bat never moved as the ball whizzed by, a pitch "nobody is going to do anything with," as the former All-Star put it.

"If you hit it, you're hitting it straight in the ground," Frazier added. "So it's like, 'All right, strap it on and get ready.'"

Frazier, second baseman Nick Gonzales and first baseman Darick Hall all failed to make solid contact off Skenes during a 25-pitch session in which a few dozen fans surrounded one of the practice fields at Pirates City, many of them with their phones raised to capture the first glimpse of Skenes in 2025.

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While Skenes, 22, stressed he is not looking to get away from his identity as a strikeout pitcher, he is trying to find a way to get to strike three a little more quickly.

"Getting ahead, winning the 0-0, 0-1, 1-1 [pitches], winning those counts, that stuff is important," he said.

That's where adding a couple of more options to a repertoire that already includes six different pitches comes in.

"Anything that looks like a fastball and doesn't end up being a fastball [helps]," pitching coach Oscar Marin said. "I think we all know how special his fastballs are. [More options are] just something that is going to really open up the zone for him as well."

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