Pirates fans are watching the early spring storylines form and letting the excitement jump a few months ahead. It’s natural when Paul Skenes is involved, because he changes what “believe” even means. But Skenes himself is more interested in finding out what the Pirates actually are than giving in to any February hype.
That mindset came through immediately when pitchers and catchers officially reported and Skenes met with the media. In a spring training dispatch from Colin Beazley of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, he didn’t downplay the ceiling. If anything, he named it out loud — and then put a warning label on it.