DK’s Daily Shot of Pirates: Skenes’ best pitch

DK’s Daily Shot of Pirates: Skenes’ best pitch

[Music] [Applause] Paul Sches became the National League’s Sai Young Award winner last night. He did so by unanimous selection, the Baseball Writers Association of America. And yet somehow, as only this kid seems to be able to do, he still oneuped himself. Good morning to you. Good Thursday morning. I’m Dan Kavatovich of DK Pittsburgh Sports. This is Daily Shot of Pirates. It comes your way bright and early every weekday. If you’re into football andor hockey, I also offer daily shots of Steelers and Penguins in the same place that you found this. There were 30 votes cast and all 30 went to skins. Didn’t matter that he played for a losing team. Didn’t matter that he almost finished with a 500 or below record because, you know, pitching wins don’t matter anymore. Certainly didn’t matter that he was just a secondyear guy. hadn’t really paid his dues or climbed the ladder and all that other nonsense that you’ve heard attached to various awards across various sports over the years. All that mattered is that he was the best. He was undeniably inarguably the best. And while I find it charming that Major League Baseball still splits these awards between leagues, even if the great TK Scubal of the Tigers had been head-to-head with Ski still should have won the award and would have won the award, I believe. I have long since run out of superlatives for everything about him on the field, off the field, intangibly, personally. And yet, man, man, he made an impression in his 25minute Zoom call interview with Pittsburgh Media. And he’d had other sessions. He obviously did some MLB network. He did some time with uh the baseball writers association, but it couldn’t have been plainer that he had some stuff that he wanted to say. And it was about the team and it was about the city. It was about his connection slash commitment to both. It began when a reporter Fairly brought up a report out of New Jersey the previous night that an unnamed player had told this reporter that Skins not only wants to get out, but that he wants to play for the Yankees. Now, there’s nothing about that that sounds like the Skins that I know. But listen for yourself to his response when this came up. I got shown the the tweet and didn’t really think anything of it and I got some texts about it. Um, you know, I’m I’m on the Pirates. My goal is to win with the Pirates. I love the city of Pittsburgh. Um, the the fans are hungry to have a winner in Pittsburgh and I want to be a part of the group that did that. I I think about it the same way that um you know when I was at the Air Force Academy uh we had never been to a conference championship and then my sophomore year we ended up winning the conference. Um we we had never finished top four in the conference before that. Um Pittsburgh is, you know, in in the the way that fans see us outside of Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh is not supposed to win. Um, there are 29 fan bases that expect us to lose and I want to be a part of the group. I want to be a part of the 26 guys that changed that. So, I don’t I don’t I don’t know where that came from. Um, the goal is to win. Um, and uh yeah, I don’t know I don’t know the reporter that reported it. I don’t know the player who uh who supposedly said that, but um the goal is to win and the goal is to win Pittsburgh. Okay. And now listen to this. When he was asked if he had any recollection or awareness of the Pirates most recent playoff run in 2013 to 15. This is really good. Yeah. I mean, I watched it as a fan. Um, everybody in Pittsburgh talks about that. You know, you run into a fan uh on the street, they’re they’re still talking about that. And I think that that shows how special it is. My agent actually um I don’t even think he was an agent at that point. He was at that game and he and he said that it was the coolest um atmosphere he’s ever been to in sports. Um it’s, you know, the city is craving it. The fans are craving it. I I forget whose hall of fame whose pirates hall of fame ceremony it was. We’re talking he’s talking about the city of champions and he’s talking about the fans making it the city of champions. This isn’t this isn’t my city. I’m not from Pittsburgh. Um you know I’m I’m adopted by by this city and uh and the fans are the ones the fans that that show up for us when we’re you know winning. Um, and then, you know, I personally love that if if we’re losing, the fans don’t show up in the in the same numbers. It’s not like Chicago or or St. Louis. Like, if you want fans, you got to win. Um, and they they they deserve it. Um, and so, like I said, I want to be a group that part of the group that that accomplishes that. You know, it’s been 10 years and second largest second longest playoff drought in the big leagues. Um uh I don’t know if someone can check my math on the the years since we won a World Series, but uh 46 years. Sorry, I went to LSU. Um so, uh yeah, 46 years since we won a a World Series championship. um this is, you know, this is why I’m going to show up to the ballpark and I’m I’m going to, you know, work to get everybody pushing in the same direction and um and I know there are other guys who are going to do the same. So that’s all the truth. And finally, this came after he was asked if he felt hunger within the organization. And and and this is a really really smart dude. He knows what’s being asked and he knows why it’s being asked. This was the way he addressed that. I do um I don’t think it’s a you know as you look at the organization um as a whole. I think there are people in you know double A who don’t realize who don’t realize it. People in high who don’t realize you know what what uh what Pittsburgh means. There are people who whose first time coming to Pittsburgh is when they make their major league debut. Um, but you realize it pretty quick and there are people uh I think you know probably not enough people but you know we can change that. Um people who realize that uh Pittsburgh is you know deserves this is is craving this. Um, and uh, and so like I said, we’re going to change it. Donnie is is the perfect guy to manage the Pittsburgh Pirates because I I I’ve, you know, talked to him in the past. Obviously, he knows baseball. He’s a people person, baseball guy. That’s all great. That’s what makes, you know, managers manager material. But he’s from Pittsburgh. And I’ve talked to him and he said that he wouldn’t want to do it anywhere else besides Pittsburgh. Um, that’s how that’s how people are in Pittsburgh. It’s a it’s such an interesting city. Um, such an interesting character and uh that needs to be our our identity coming into next year. I I believe um whatever identity is is is what it is. Um, but that’s that’s kind of what I think we need to to get back to is that gritty um bluecollar personality that Pittsburgh is. Um, so I’m going to push for that. I know there are others that are going to push for that and then whoever’s new to the organization, they’re going to realize real quick that that’s what that’s what the goal is. So, um, I wish it were February 10th already or whatever spring training reporting date it is. Uh cuz um you know I’m I’m incredibly um I hate the word motivated, but um I’m I’m incredibly excited to to to do this and to push in this direction uh for next year. I hope you see what I meant at the outset of the show. There are interviews and then there’s whatever that was. I know from my own conversations with SK over the past couple of years that he’s not real big on looking at what’s over his head when it comes to the difference between winning and losing. He sees it as a clubhouse thing. Now, any of us can disagree with that. Any of us can say, “How’s he supposed to win without dot dot dot?” But that’s how he views it. Because and this is my understanding. That’s the controllable. That’s what’s in front of him. When he has wanted to win, he has been able to will it. He has been able to look back and say, “Hey, I did this at the Air Force Academy. I did this at LSU. I did this before that. Why shouldn’t I be able to do that in Pittsburgh? I find that to be extraordinary. I find the whole thing, the fact that he’s here in Pittsburgh pitching for this team and carrying himself like this to be extraordinary. And I thought that on this day you might value hearing that from him in his own words when we come back. J1Q. [Music] If you’re looking for a great dining experience, look no further than Northshore Tavern. Located directly across Federal Street from PNC Park, next door to Mike’s Beer Bar, Northshore Tavern is Pittsburgh’s home for steak on a stone. Enjoy your steak finished on a hot lava stone in front of you, where you ensure each piece is cooked to exactly your liking. or try their rotating selection of entre, hot sandwiches, salads, and burgers, all while enjoying the ambiance dedicated to the great players and history of the Pittsburgh Pirates all around you. Come see why everyone’s talking about Northshore Tavern and Steak on a Stone. It’s Gun Storage Check Week. Help prevent unwanted access to your firearms. No one wants their unsecured gun to be used in an accident, a suicide, or a crime. Use lock boxes, safes, and locks to secure your firearms. Learn more at gunstorage check.org. That’s gunstorage check.org. Brought to you by NSSF, the Firearm Industry Trade Association. Delete Me, quick, and safe to remove your personal data online. At a time when surveillance and data breaches are common enough to make everyone vulnerable, data brokers can compile your name, contact info, social security number, home address, even information about your family members, and they can sell it online. Have you ever been a victim of identity theft, harassment, doxing? If you haven’t, you probably know someone who has. Delete Me can help take control of your data and keep your private life private by signing up for Delete Me. Our listeners get a special discount. Get 20% off your Delete Me plan when you go to join deleteme.com/hit. Use promo code hit at checkout. That’s hit. The only way to get 20% off is to go to jointdeme.com/hit and enter hit at checkout. That’s jointdeleteme.com/hitcode hit. [Music] Today’s J1Q comes from Gary Oell who says, “Deon, the Pirates have the makings of what could be the dominant pitching staff. They could be a completely different team if the Bob Nutting/Ben Cherington comedy team makes moves to bring in at least three quality bats. If they did that, could this be a team that brings real excitement to the city? Well, my literal if slash when response to you is yes. I mean, yes. If the Pirates get good, the fans will come, the fans will buzz, the fans will make all kinds of noise. And you don’t have to go back to 2013 to 15 to see that. You just need to see, let’s say, five, a fivegame winning streak in almost any context. And I know this because it drives the people who just relentlessly go at them. And by that I mean those without any knowledge or cause. They just hear the word pirates and go, “Oh ho ho ho ho, pirates.” They get driven nuts by how enthused the city becomes when the team is successful. Now, I’m presuming that’s the point of what you’re bringing up here. But if it’s instead the three quality bats you Oh, no. I don’t want to misquote you here. At least three quality bats. I have a couple of responses. One is there is a 0.00% chance that Cherington is capable of acquiring three quality bats. I don’t care how much payroll flexibility is created by having dumped off David Bednar, Krian Hayes, Bailey Falter, and soon Mitch Keller because he’ll bungle it. He’ll blow it. The extra payroll space with which he’ll be operating will only magnify his mistakes. He can’t identify hitting. He can’t see it. It’s a dog looking at a rainbow. But my other point, and this is probably more distressing, I don’t know that they’d be some really good hitting team if they did add three quality bats. This team is not just a couple sticks short. If you think of it this way, we’re now in a home run/walk era of baseball. And the Pirates were a mile behind everybody else. everybody else in home runs. So, you could get your three quality bats and let’s say that they come with some power and all you’d be doing is climbing up and saying hello to the Padres’s, the team in 29th in that category. And this is yet another reason why my call for this setting in this situation has been way more overarching. You can’t just get the additional bats. You got to get a bunch of them. To do that, you have to be able to identify hitting at all levels, including the amateur ranks. And you have to be able to load up your system with those types of players. Deeper than that, you’d have to find somebody who can get more, a lot more out of the hitters that you do have. Who can bring Brian Reynolds back up? Who can get the very most out of O’Neal Cruz? I know I’m touching some sore subjects here, but that’s what’s needed. The hitters that you have who have done it before or who at least have some real capability or physical talent in the case of Cruz. That’s the equivalent of acquiring two or three bats. That has to happen as well. And it’s not going to because it’s the same people. It’s all the same people operating under the same guy. I appreciate the question, Gary. I appreciate everybody who listens to Daily Shot of Pirates. And we’ll be back with another one of these next Monday. Reminder here that we’re going to be doing 4 days a week on Pirates through the off season since, you know, not exactly expecting there to be a bunch of big news. See everyone then. [Music]

The best pitch Paul Skenes has ever made.

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