re: Skenes Starting Off in the Minors

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I don’t follow as much pro sports any more but I do know that many high prospects start out in AA the beginning of the year. I’ve seen in the 70’s the Phillies AA Had Schmitt, Luzinski and Bowa and called up quickly to AAA or the bigs Quickly.

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Not a single one of the higher picks started out at AA. They start at A or A+. It’s usually a cup of coffee. 50 ABs or so, then they move on to AA, assuming they show they’re above that level. It’s a big jump to AA and there’s often an adjustment period. But then the season ends. Year 2, almost all of them will start in AA (some AAA). From there, it depends on a lot of things. Some will be in the bigs by the Allstar break, some won’t. If they aren’t ready to be an everyday starter, often times the team will choose to keep them in AAA to get as many ABs as possible. What they really don’t want is them sitting the bench in MLB, getting 1/3 of the ABs. Now, each case is different but this is the normal run. So with Skenes, everybody on this stupid site thinks he should be in the Pitt Bullpen at minimum. For what? Would it be wiser for him to be tossing 6-7innings a game in AAA or getting scraps and 2/3innings in the Pitt bullpen?

Example: Cubs have one of the top CF prospects in baseball just about ready to go. But he’s not quite there, has some things to hash out at the plate. They also have Cody Bellinger in CF. So would that prospect be more useful playing once every 4 days or so in MLB or playing everyday in AAA until it’s just undeniable that it’s time? When kids like this come up, you want them playing everyday

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It has to do with service time manipulation when there is a player who is clearly ready to play in the major leagues. That may well be the case with Skenes, I have not watched him pitch a pitch in the minors, but it IS very rare for a rookie whether out of college or high school to be ready for the majors their first year.

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We have no idea if he's ready or not, not even Skenes knows that because he has nothing yet to compare it to. Only the Pirates truly know if he's ready.

My point is that, even if the Pirates believed he is ready now, there was still no chance he was going to begin this season in the show. Even if they were coming into this season with playoff expectations, there would be more incentive to keep him in AAA for a month, than have him on the opening day roster. Every team will gladly forfeit the chance at a comp pick if it means they get a potential ace for an extra year on his rookie deal. Him missing four starts in that first month won't make or break his season.

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My point is that, even if the Pirates believed he is ready now, there was still no chance he was going to begin this season in the show.

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We agree on this, the only point I was trying to make was splitting hairs really. It's very, very rare that a player is good enough to the leap from day 1 and while the service time manipulation is real and most teams take advantage of it (they'd be foolish not to), 99% of the time the player is not called up to start the year because he's not ready.

Anyone in here who seriously thought that he was going to go straight to the majors doesn't know anything about professional baseball.

It's only happened a handful of times.

It's certainly not going to happen with a hard throwing starting pitcher that will have to be slowly eased into a professional schedule. A player where it's not if but when he needs Tommy John. If you're the Pirates, you're hoping you get some good years out of him before you have to trade him for prospects and his elbow goes after he leaves (Jacob deGrom). He's basically a rental for Pittsburgh anyway, so the worst thing that can happen is he takes his 18 month Tommy John break while he is on their roster.