The Pittsburgh Pirates are heading into the season with a different kind of confidence, and Paul Skenes is a big part of that. Skenes is the clear No. 1 guy on this Pirates team, no matter offensively or on the mound, and is probably the best pitcher in baseball.
As the Opening Day is here, Skenes believes this team is a lot better than it has been, bringing up just how much talent the Pirates have.
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“Well, we’ve got a lot of talent,” Skenes said. “We have a lot of really good pitchers on the staff. We have a lot of buy-in to the culture that we’re trying to create, what we’re working to do every day. Everybody’s pushing in the same direction so we’ve been doing it a month-and-a-half now at Spring Training and it’s time to go do it for 162 in the regular season.”
For a team like Pittsburgh, which is still trying to establish itself as a decent team, culture and more are just as important as talent. Skenes knows that for his Pirates squad to be what they’re looking to be, it’ll take a lot more. He even said during the earlier stages of free agency that he wasn’t interested in talking about what they could be and was ready to go out and show what they can actually be.
The Pirates have built a ridiculous pitching staff with elite arms, and Skenes is at the top of that. As one of the most highly regarded young arms we’ve ever seen, he’s expected to have Cy Young stuff every five games.
However, he recognizes that this is a team game and everyone has to be ready to go.
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“Yeah I think we’ve got a good mix and there’s a certain type of person that we have, the young guy who’s breaking with the team and even the young guys, they’re hungry, they want to win, they want to do things the right way,” Skenes said.
The Pirates have a nice blend of young talent with some veteran pieces, adding Ryan O’Hearn, Brandon Lowe, and Marcell Ozuna in the winter.