Kevin Gorman's Take 5: Starting with Paul Skenes, Pirates went all in on drafting pitchers

After the Pittsburgh Pirates won the inaugural lottery for the No.1 overall pick in the MLB Draft, general manager Ben Cherington intentionally decided not to see any of the top prospects play live.

“That was because I don’t trust myself to not bring bias into the room when I do that,” Cherington said. “So, I chose not to.”

Where Cherington opted to watch “a ton of games” on Synergy and TruMedia, which integrate Statcast data, he trusted his scouts, as well as the research and development and analytics departments, to determine which players were the best fits for the Pirates.

The Pirates picked a starting pitcher tagged as a generational talent in LSU’s Paul Skenes, a 6-foot-6½, 260-pound right-hander who averaged 15.3 strikeouts and 1.5 walks per nine innings to lead the Tigers to their seventh College World Series championship.

“We had lots and lots of people who did (see Skenes pitch),” Cherington said. “The list is — I’m guessing, I don’t have it in front of me — up to 15 people probably from the Pirates saw him pitch live this spring.”

Perhaps no one saw Skenes more than Wayne Mathias, their area supervisor for southern Texas and Louisiana. Mathis was the point man for scouting the draft’s top two prospects, Skenes and LSU outfielder Dylan Crews, who went second overall to the Washington Nationals.

“Wayne was in there and Wayne probably saw most of his starts and got to know Paul really well,” Cherington said. “Wayne was the feet on the ground for us.”

For that, Mathis got a lot of handshakes and hugs in the Pirates’ draft room when Skenes was selected.

A transformational player and a transformational person. pic.twitter.com/fJQpWnoKTb

— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) July 10, 2023

1. Ready or not?

One of the absurdities surrounding Skenes was the talk that he was ready to jump from college baseball to the major leagues sometime this summer.

The Pirates did their best to dismiss such discussion, noting that Skenes hasn’t pitched since Game 1 of the College World Series on June 25. Now that the draft is over, the Pirates have to sign Skenes by July 25.

“Assuming we can get through the next steps — agreement — and get through the onboarding and the physical and all, I think we start with assessment and it’s meeting Paul where he is,” Cherington said. “Knowing Paul, guessing he’s going to keep himself in good condition and has done that and is still throwing.

“We’ll meet him where he is physically when we get him into the Pirates organization and on the field based on our assessment with him, do that with him and we’ll certainly be learning from him, also. Based on that, we’ll map out a progression for 2023.”

That likely would begin with Skenes spending time with the minor league pitching coordinators at Pirate City in Bradenton, Fla., before deciding at which level he will start.

Take into consideration that 2021 No. 1 overall pick Henry Davis played two games in the Florida Complex League and six with the Low-A Bradenton Marauders before being shut down because of an oblique strain.

Skenes was diplomatic when asked if he’s ready for the majors, knowing there’s a dramatic difference between the SEC and MLB.

“In a vacuum, people are telling me my stuff plays in the big leagues,” Skenes said. “I also know that I’ve watched this game for so long, and it’s always felt so distant in a sense just because I’ve been a fan and sitting in the stands and watching all those guys compete. And now, I don’t know exactly what to expect because it’s so close.

“To an extent, it’s my decision on when I get to the big leagues based on how I do and how I work. It’s also someone’s else’s decision to pull me out. I think I’m close. I don’t know exactly how close, but I’m going to do everything in my power to get there as soon as possible.”

Paul Skenes sees pitching AND hitting in his future ???? pic.twitter.com/F6Hf9M85a0

— SEC Network (@SECNetwork) July 3, 2023

2. Two-way days over?

Skenes also made waves when he said that he wouldn’t mind doing his best Shohei Ohtani impression by hitting when he’s not pitching.

Given that he won the John Olerud Award as college baseball’s best two-way player after batting .314/.412/.634 with 10 doubles, 13 home runs and 38 RBIs in 52 games as a sophomore at Air Force in 2022, Skenes has some pedigree.

But LSU coach Jay Johnson credited Skenes’ willingness to put down his bat and catcher’s equipment to concentrate on pitching for rocketing to the top of the draft class. And Cherington said his hitting hasn’t been the Pirates’ focus with Skenes.

“I guess what I would say about Paul is it doesn’t seem like one should bet against him,” Cherington said. “I think we want to hopefully get Paul into the organization and get a sense of where he’s at. He’s obviously made incredible strides as a pitcher. We believe there’s more to come there. We know he’s had success as a hitter in the past. We just want to get with him, map out a progression and we’ll start there and see how it goes.”

Banking on a breakout this spring out of Jaden Woods. It’s 55 FB control but 30 secondary feel, and the stuff is really good.

Reminds me of Bryce Miller; never dominant in his first two years but showed flashes. Has a plus-FB w/ lift, 55 sweeper at 80-82. pic.twitter.com/NJA3pbKInr

— ???? (@mason_mcrae) September 21, 2022

3. SEC overload

Pirates assistant general manager Steve Sanders and director of amateur scouting Joe DelliCarri did their best to downplay its significance, but it’s hard to ignore that the Pirates selected seven pitchers from the SEC in the MLB Draft.

Not only did they draft Skenes, but the Pirates added Vanderbilt right-hander Patrick Reilly (fifth round), Alabama lefty Hunter Furtado (sixth) and righty Garrett McMillan (14th), Georgia lefty Jaden Woods (seventh) and Kentucky right-hander Austin Strickland (eighth) and lefty Magdiel Cotto (11th).

DelliCarri chose his words carefully.

“There’s a lot of good pitchers in all the conferences across the country, there’s no question,” DelliCarri said. “We see a lot of the SEC, no different than a lot of the conferences that our scouts are in every day. At the same point in time, their collection of who they are and traits were attractive to us, but sincerely, no direct design to go into the SEC and take pitchers out of the SEC. It was just more of the individuals that aligned with what we were looking for more than it was conference based.”

See ya ???? @McadooCharles

Spartans take a 1-0 lead after this Charles McAdoo bomb!#AllSpartans pic.twitter.com/xBcuuTB3IK

— San José State Baseball (@SanJoseStateBSB) February 20, 2023

4. Left out

In a draft that was top-heavy with outfielders and saw LSU’s Crews, Max Clark of Franklin (Ind.), Florida’s Wyatt Langford and Walker Jenkins of South Brunswick (N.C.) selected with the Nos. 2-5 picks, the Pirates didn’t draft any.

Cherington said the Pirates didn’t settle on Skenes until Sunday, and many draft analysts expected them to pick either Clark or Langford on below-slot deals and spent the savings on later picks.

“It was a difficult choice, to be sure, not because of the pitcher versus position player, but because all the guys we considered at the top are really good players and really good people, both,” Cherington said. “Really boxes checked across the board with that entire group. I felt lucky to be able to know a handful of them over the course of the Spring and be able to get in front of them. So, it was a very difficult choice.

“I certainly believe that there’s a bunch of guys that were selected at the top of this draft that are going to go on and be very good players in the major leagues.”

Although DelliCarri didn’t rule out the possibility that some of the infielders the Pirates drafted have the versatility to play in the outfield, he considers that their second or third position options. The 13th-rounder, second baseman Charles McAdoo of San Jose State, has some experience in right field.

The ball just sounds different when 2023 3B Daniel Cuvet barrels up.

5 of 12 balls left the yard, plus went off the base of the wall in dead CF. Huge bat speed with legit plus power for the #Canes commit. pic.twitter.com/tARyOU2RuH

— Ian Smith (@FlaSmitty) July 22, 2022

5. Rank and file

When the Pirates spent much of the second day picking players at spots well below their MLB Pipeline rankings, it prompted speculation they might try to go over-slot for a high school prospect.

Instead, they continued their run on college players.

Baseball America’s rankings made a handful of Pirates picks look better.

Where MLB Pipeline had competitive Balance B Round selection Zander Mueth at No. 83, Baseball America had the right-hander at No. 56, 11 spots ahead of where he was picked.

Baseball America also ranked Woods at No. 152, Cotto at No. 267 and Arizona State righty Khristian Curtis at No. 126. The Pirates’ 17th-round pick, prep third baseman Daniel Cuvet, a Miami recruit who is considered one of the draft’s best power hitters, is ranked No. 177 by Baseball America.

“Honestly, the publication rankings aren’t something we pay particularly close attention to,” Sanders said. “We respect the heck out of all the folks who spend a lot of time putting together and compiling those rankings. Certainly good information, but we were targeting the players that we felt were the best fits for the organization every time our turn came around.

“That’s what we were doing. Nothing strategy-related to where we were taking those guys to how they were ranked. Ultimately, the thing we rely on most is the work that goes on in that room and the work that goes on throughout the scouting department, (research and development) and baseball ops group that go into assessing and understanding where we can make these players better. Obviously, that’s the information and signal that we go with.”