Paul Skenes has a message for anybody questioning if he has his sights set on leaving the Pirates.
“The objective is to win, and the objective is to win in Pittsburgh,” Skenes instructed reporters after he gained the Nationwide League Cy Younger Award on Wednesday.
Skenes was responding to a report from NJ Advance Media by which an unnamed Pirates participant is quoted as saying that the famous person pitcher was “hoping for a commerce” and that Skenes “needs to play for the Yankees.”
Skenes mentioned that he had seen the report, however “didn’t suppose a lot about it” and expressed a need to be a part of the group of Pirates that may assist change the notion of the group exterior of Pittsburgh.
“The way in which that followers see us exterior of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh is just not presupposed to win,” Skenes mentioned. “There are 29 fan bases that anticipate us to lose. I wish to be part of the 26 guys that change that.”
Skenes has been a bona fide famous person since he made his MLB debut in 2024.
Skenes grew to become simply the second pitcher in MLB historical past to win the Cy Younger Award the yr following a Rookie of the 12 months nod, becoming a member of the likes of Mets nice Dwight Gooden.
He had an MLB-best 1.97 ERA whereas placing out 216 batters over the course of 187 ⅓ innings.
Nonetheless, the Pirates have been perennial losers and haven’t made the postseason since 2015.
They haven’t gained a World Sequence since 1979, however Skenes didn’t appear deterred by that truth.
“Forty-six years with no World Sequence championship,” he mentioned. “This is the reason I’m going to indicate as much as the ballpark, and I’m going to work to get all people pushing in the identical path. I do know there are different guys who’re going to do the identical. That’s all the reality.”
