Pirates promoting No. 1 overall pick Paul Skenes to Double-A Altoona

The Pittsburgh Pirates are promoting Paul Skenes to Double-A Altoona, and the 2023 No. 1 overall pick is expected to start Saturday, when the Curve play Akron at Peoples Natural Gas Field in Altoona.

The 6-foot-6 right-handed pitcher will become the fifth player in franchise history who was the first overall selection to play for the Curve. The others are right-handers Kris Benson, Bryan Bullington and Gerrit Cole and catcher Henry Davis, who started this season in Altoona.

Skenes has been dominant in his first three professional outings, striking out five while allowing one hit and no walks in four scoreless innings, a sign he’s ready for a higher level of the minor leagues.

Skenes pitched a 1-2-3 inning for the Florida Complex League Pirates on Aug. 10 and three innings in two games against Lakeland for Low-A Bradenton, throwing 19 of his 28 pitches for strikes and recording two strikeouts in two innings Sunday at LECOM Park.

“As we’ve gone through the year, we knew that there was going to be a progression as to where he’s going to go. We’re just taking another step in the progression,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “Having just watched the starts on video, he’s done a really nice job and been very impressive. So just continue to progress him as our baseball ops group feels is appropriate.”

Pirates general manager Ben Cherington said Skenes would pitch a maximum of 20 innings this season. Skenes, who led LSU to its seventh College World Series championship and was named the tournament’s most outstanding player, was 12-2 with a 1.69 ERA and 0.75 WHIP in 122 2/3 innings over 19 starts for the Tigers this season.