Pirates GM Ben Cherington doing balancing act with management of Paul Skenes, Jared Jones
When it comes to pitch counts and innings management, Ben Cherington is doing a balancing act between having open lines of communication and keeping the Pittsburgh Pirates’ plans close to the vest.
The Pirates general manager on Wednesday afternoon addressed two hot-button topics surrounding the team: the pitch count of top prospect Paul Skenes at Triple-A Indianapolis and the workload management of rookie right-hander Jared Jones.
“We want to be transparent and honest about what the goals are,” Cherington said. “Certainly in a case where someone is building up a pitch count like Paul is, he is aware that it’s going to go in steps, and it’s not going to all come at once. At the same time, we want them to be free to go perform. Any player, not just a pitcher. We want players to feel free to perform.”
Cherington warned, however, that sharing too much information can be detrimental. He said decisions are made on a case-by-case basis, sometimes depending on the personality of the player. With Skenes being the 2023 No. 1 overall pick, the Pirates’ top prospect and the highest-ranked pitching prospect in baseball, his development has been magnified and scrutinized at a higher level.
Where Skenes threw a season-high 71 pitches Wednesday at Omaha, Cherington focused more on the efficiency and pitch mix. Although Skenes leaned heavily on his four-seam fastball and splitter-sinker hybrid, he also used his slider, sweeper, changeup and curveball.
Cherington also said there isn’t a pitch-count number the Pirates are focused on before promoting Skenes — “and if we did, we probably wouldn’t share it publicly” — but suggested that it will need to be higher than the 46 in his first start or 44 in his second. Skenes has since increased his pitch count to 55, 65 and now 71.
“He’s starting to build now,” Cherington said. “He’s starting to get closer to that range. We will continue to work with him and assess where he is and give him feedback. Listen to him and how he’s doing with it and see what happens.”
“… It’s exciting. We appreciate and respect how good he wants 
Cherington also discussed the Pirates pulling Jones after five scoreless innings in which he threw 50 of his 59 pitches for strikes and had seven strikeouts without a walk and only one hit allowed in a 3-1 loss at the New York Mets on April 16. Pirates manager Derek Shelton called it a predetermined move, given that it was Jones’ first start on four days of rest in the major leagues.
“We’re trying to win games, and it’s that balance between the battle of the day and the war over the next six months,” Cherington said.
“That’s what we’re trying to toggle back and forth all the time and try to put guys in the best position to help us win the battle of the day and help us win the war over the longer period of time.”
