Morning Rundown: Paul Skenes named opening day starter, Pirates blow out Orioles 15-5
Skenes to start opening day, Offense explodes in Saturday game at LECOM
The Pittsburgh Pirates announced that Paul Skenes would be the opening day starter on March 27th against the Miami Marlins.
Skenes was the NL Rookie of the Year, a Cy Young Finalist, and started the All-Star game—all in the first full season he spent in the majors. He now adds ‘opening day starter’ to his already loaded resume.
Skenes becomes the youngest opening day starting pitcher for the Pirates since ‘at least’ 1900 and is the youngest overall since Jose Fernandez in 2014.
It creates an intriguing matchup, as he will face off against Sandy Alcantara for the Marlins, who will be making his return from Tommy John this year.
After getting promoted in May last year, Skenes made 23 starts, winning 11 games and posting a 1.96 ERA with 170 strikeouts in 170 innings pitched.
An offensive outburst pushed the Pirates past the Baltimore Orioles on Saturday, as they won 15-5 at LECOM Park.
Two-thirds of the runs came in the sixth inning or later, with some younger names and a former first overall pick coming through with big hits.
Carmen Mlodzinski started for the Pirates and increased his pitch count to 64. He tossed three innings of one-run ball, allowing two hits and two walks while striking out three.
David Bednar allowed three runs (two earned) on three hits and a strikeout in two-thirds of an inning. Kyle Nicolas allowed two hits and a walk while striking out two in two innings pitched.
Wilkin Ramos pitched the final inning, allowing a hit. That’s the only hit he’s allowed in 3.1 innings this spring, spanning four games.
The big blow was delivered by Henry Davis, who entered the game as a substitution, hitting a grand slam. Nick Cimillo hit a two-run double that went 109 mph off the bat, also as a late-game replacement.
Endy Rodriguez went 0-1 with two runs and three walks before being subbed out. Oneil Cruz went 2-3 with two RBI, Jack Suwinski hit a double, and Ji Hwan Bae had another mult-hit day.
Ke’Bryan Hayes returned to the lineup, played third base and walked twice.
The Pirates will head to Tampa to face the Yankees on Sunday. Carson Fulmer will get the start and will face Clarke Schmidt. The first pitch is scheduled for 1:05 pm ET.
From John Dreker
The Pittsburgh Pirates hired two new pro scouts recently, adding to the two others they hired three weeks earlier. The new scouts are Kayla Baptista and former big league pitcher Jeremy Powell.
Baptista started working for the Texas Rangers while she was still a softball player at UNC. She was with the Rangers from October of 2021 until January of 2025, working in player development. She has also worked as a hitting and fielding instructor at the Upper Deck Baseball Academy for eight years, plus she worked for a time over the winter twice with Cressey Sports Performance. She also has some coaching experience in her background.
Powell is a true baseball lifer. He was drafted by the Montreal Expos in 1994. He pitched three seasons in the majors (1998-2000), then went to Japan for the next eight seasons. He returned to the U.S. in 2009, when he signed a minor league deal with the Pittsburgh Pirates. He pitched the entire 2009-10 seasons with Triple-A Indianapolis.
Powell next moved to the coaching side, where he was a pitching coach for the Miami Marlins for the last 13 seasons. He worked his way up the minor league ladder by starting his coaching in the Gulf Coast League. He has spent the last four seasons as the Triple-A pitching coach. He now moves into pro scouting for the first time with 30 years of baseball experience behind him.
Here's the article from February 20th with the previous pro scouting hires
Top Exit Velocity
Nick Cimillo - 109 mph - Double
Oneil Cruz - 105.7 mph - Single
Nick Gonzales -105.7 mph - Double
Ji Hwan Bae - 103.9 mph -Double
Andrew McCutchen - 103.8 mph - Forceout
Top Pitch Velocity
Kyle Nicolas - 99.4 mph
Kyle Nicolas - 98.9 mph
Kyle Nicolas - 98.8 mph
Kyle Nicolas - 98.8 mph
Kyle Nicolas - 98.5 mph
Most Whiffs
Carmen Mlodzinski - 7
Kyle Nicolas - 5
Yohan Ramirez - 5
David Bednar - 2
Wilkin Ramos - 1
Justin Lawrence
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Great to add pro scouts. Now we just need a pro owner, pro CEO, pro GM and pro manager.
Glad they won. Watched a little of the replay - David Bednar deserved a helluva lot better than what the Pirates gave him in the 4th inning. Our MI of Frazier at 2B and NG at SS gave a clinic on how not to play MI. Frazier is not the same second baseman who played for the Pirates at 2B from 2016 to 2021 - at 33 he has lost a step or two, and signing him as a FA was a terrible decision. NG's range is good for second base, but not SS. Triolo, Peguero, Cheng maybe at SS.
Great diving catch by Jack Suwinski going far to his right into RC field to make the catch of a line drive in that 4th inning. Earlier in the inning Frazier misplayed a popup in short RC. It was his ball, but his route took him into CF and the ball dropped about 10 feet from him in RC. Just not good baseball.