Saying that pitcher Paul Skenes “checked all the boxes” and emphasizing that there are no health concerns, the Pittsburgh Pirates placed the 2023 No. 1 overall draft pick on the development list Tuesday and shut him down from pitching for the remainder of the season.

Pirates general manager Ben Cherington said the club’s pitching and development group determined that the 6-foot-6, 250-pound right-hander had satisfied their post-draft plans and recommended he focus on a healthy offseason in preparation for 2024.

Skenes pitched almost 130 innings this year, throwing 122 2/3 innings in leading LSU to the College World Series title followed by 6 2/3 innings in the minors since signing with the Pirates for a draft-record $9.2 million bonus. Cherington previously said Skenes wouldn’t pitch more than 20 innings in the minors this summer.

“He’s a competitor. He likes to be out there, but I think he understands the bigger picture here,” Cherington said. “We’re talking about it either was going to be one more start or ending pretty soon anyway. He understands. Since we signed him, we talked about working backward from April 2024 in designing this in preparation for that. This is just part of that, putting him in the best possible position to get into his offseason training and be in position to have a full 2024 season.”

We have placed RHP Paul Skenes on the Development List and will not pitch again this season. pic.twitter.com/vgqi44Fn8J

— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) September 5, 2023

Pirates GM Ben Cherington details why the 2023 No. 1 overall pick, RHP Paul Skenes, was placed on the development list and shut down for the rest of the season. pic.twitter.com/AQAqBPY0tF

— Kevin Gorman (@KevinGormanPGH) September 5, 2023

The announcement comes two days before Skenes was scheduled to face his former LSU teammate, outfielder Dylan Crews, who was the No. 2 overall pick by the Washington Nationals. Crews plays for the Harrisburg Senators, who are playing at Altoona this week.

“We really, really trust the recommendation of the staff that is closest to him,” Cherington said. “Probably some fans in Altoona will be upset that matchup will not happen now, but I’m sure we’ll see him in the big leagues some day, and that will be exciting when it does happen there. We’re going to trust the recommendation that was given to us. It feels like the right thing.”

Skenes struck out three in two shutout innings against Erie on Friday, allowing one hit while throwing 18 of his 25 pitches for strikes in his second outing for Double-A Altoona. In his debut with the Curve on Aug. 26, Skenes lasted just two-thirds of an inning against the Akron RubberDucks, allowing four earned runs on three hits with two walks.

Skenes previously made a pair of starts with Low-A Bradenton, allowing no runs and one hit with four strikeouts in three innings. In his professional debut for the Florida Complex League Pirates on Aug. 10, Skenes completed a 1-2-3 inning with a strikeout of No. 5 overall pick Walker Jenkins.

Pirates GM Ben Cherington on the boxes RHP Paul Skenes checked this season in the minors since being selected No. 1 overall. pic.twitter.com/PHbTUVo8TK

— Kevin Gorman (@KevinGormanPGH) September 5, 2023

“I think, first of all, experiencing affiliate baseball: the schedule, the travel, the routine,” Cherington said. “Checked that box at two or three different levels. There was some pitch design. Working on a slightly different-shaped breaking ball. Working on a two-seam a little bit more than he had, at least towards the end at LSU. Experiencing both a four-day rest and five-day rest pitching routine, although the pitch count was short. Just getting to 130 innings or wherever he is. That’s kind of the high mark for any minor league pitcher we’d have. So if you think about it that way, he’s kind of at the top of where the work volume would be for any minor league pitcher.

“His circumstance is different than a pitcher who started spring training as a Pirate, in terms of the things that we hoped to accomplish with him. He was just going to be a different case than a pitcher who’d been a pro all season. The boxes that a different guy would check would be different for him. We felt like he checked those boxes.”

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