The Pittsburgh Pirates admitted at the start of spring training that there was no blueprint to follow when it came to developing Paul Skenes this past season.
The only two things that general manager Ben Cherington and manager Derek Shelton were sure of was that Skenes would begin the season at Triple-A Indianapolis and end it with the Pirates. The hope was that the 22-year-old, the first overall pick in the 2023 amateur draft, would still be strong enough to pitch in the big leagues when the season ended in late September.
It turned out that the Pirates handled Skenes flawlessly. He had one of the best seasons by a rookie pitcher in major-league history…