Catching On: Pirates ace Paul Skenes adjusting to new backstops in Endy Rodriguez, Joey Bart

When it comes to pitch-calling, Paul Skenes has a simple but effective way of judging catchers.

If the Pittsburgh Pirates right-hander is thinking about throwing a certain pitch and the catcher calls it before Skenes can reach down to his belt for the PitchCom device, then he knows they are on the same page.

“That happened with Endy quite a few times,” Skenes said after the 5-3 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals on Tuesday. “We’re thinking very similarly. I don’t think I shook. I’m a fan of the game that he called and that we called together. It just comes down to executing.”

After spending his rookie season with veteran Yasmani Grandal as his catcher for 19 of his 23 starts, Skenes is adjusting to working with a new catcher this season in Rodriguez. But Skenes said that Grandal is still providing help “in the shadows,” texting Skenes after his starts “if he has two cents, thoughts to add.”

Skenes no longer has Grandal as a security blanket like last season, when the 6-foot-6, 260-pounder won National League Rookie of the Year honors and finished third in Cy Young voting. Where Joey Bart caught Skenes twice last year and on Opening Day this season, Rodriguez has been behind the plate for his past two starts.

“It’s a little bit of an adjustment, but we’re learning together,” Skenes told TribLive. “I’m pretty flexible. It’s just about having a relationship with them. Obviously, I had a year with Joey that I didn’t have with Endy last year because he was rehabbing (from Tommy John surgery). I was really just trying to feel all that out.”

Rodriguez also stays in touch with Grandal, whose advice on catching Skenes is that he’s a more visual pitcher who wants to feel comfortable with the catcher and likes to have a target flashed “at the last moment.”

When Rodriguez caught Skenes for the first time, at Tampa Bay, they stuck to his bread-and-butter pitches. Of Skenes’ 102 offerings, three-quarters were either four-seam fastballs (48) or splinkers (30). Against the Cardinals, Skenes threw 30 four-seamers and 27 splinkers out of 98

“He was missing fastball away, so we changed it up,” Rodriguez said. “Obviously, his splinker and fastball are the best stuff he has.”

It shows that Skenes isn’t afraid to make adjustments game to game. He recalled how at LSU he got 11 of 12 strikeouts on the four-seamer in one game and 11 of 12 with the slider in the next.

“He might not have a feel for one of his pitches. He might have a feel for a weird pitch, like last year in Cincinnati when we punched everybody out with a changeup,” Bart said of Skenes using it on six of his nine strikeouts against the Reds last September. “It’s a day-to-day thing, and you have to adjust on the fly. Obviously, he has premium stuff. He knows everybody’s hunting him. He loves that. He loves moments.”

Killer view

Veteran left-hander Andrew Heaney enjoyed a memorable starting debut for the Pirates at PNC Park, striking out 10 in seven innings last Sunday in a 5-4 win over the New York Yankees.

It was his first time pitching at the ballpark, but Heaney didn’t get to enjoy was the view of the city skyline or Roberto Clemente Bridge. His attention span was focused on a Yankees lineup that had MVPs at the top of the order in Paul Goldschmidt, Cody Bellinger and Aaron Judge, who went a combined 2 for 9 against Heaney.

“To be honest, that’s more the kind of stuff that when you’re sitting there watching the game on the bench when it’s not your day that you’re probably paying more attention to it,” Heaney told TribLive. “You’re going, ‘Man, this is a beautiful ballpark. The backdrop is amazing, with the bridge and stuff.’ But when you’re out there on the mound, your back is to it and you’re not paying attention to it. I’ve been on opposing teams that have played here. I know how the park feels but just hadn’t done it out there on the field yet.”

Heaney reiterated that he’d had conversations with Pirates general manager Ben Cherington in three of the past four years and was always interested in pitching at PNC Park because of its cavernous left field and how lefty starters Tyler Anderson, Jose Quintana, Rich Hill and Martin Perez fared in one-season stints with the Pirates.

“I’m happy to be here,” Heaney said. “I know everybody is supposed to say that, but I genuinely am. I really like the group that we have here, and I just want to do my part. I’m here now, and I’m ready to go and win games for the Pirates.”

Bottom’s up

Forgive Pirates manager Derek Shelton for getting defensive about lineup questions, especially when it comes to the two players who entered the week batting better than .300.

With Bryan Reynolds shut down from throwing because of a right shoulder injury, Shelton’s only way of getting him in the batting order was at the expense of 38-year-old designated hitter Andrew McCutchen.

After acquiring Isiah Kiner-Falefa from the Blue Jays at the trade deadline last July, Shelton had him bat leadoff 40 times. Kiner-Falefa batted ninth in 11 of the first 12 games this season, with Shelton taking advantage of his ability to turn over the lineup with consistent at-bats.

“Right now, he looks good there, looks comfortable there,” Shelton said. “I don’t plan on moving him off there, at least on a consistent basis. Maybe every once in a while, but consistently I think it’ll be closer to there.”

Despite entering the opening homestand with a .360 average, Kiner-Falefa isn’t complaining about batting ninth. Instead, he’s focused on continuing to find consistency and credits his early success for sticking with a toe tap, a timing mechanism for his swing, instead of tinkering for more power by using a leg kick.

“I like being at the bottom of the order,” Kiner-Falefa told TribLive. “I can focus on playing shortstop, and I can play my game. Last year at points, I felt like I had to slug — and that’s not my game. Hit and run, bunt, move guys over and get rewarded for that. At Toronto, I was at the bottom of the order and doing the same thing. Here, being at the bottom of the order, I feel like I’m able to literally play NL baseball. And that’s what I like.”