July 17, 2025 4:36 PM : The Pirates are not expected to skip any of Skenes' starts in the second half but will likely have him throw a few more "low-volume outings" as a means of managing his workload, Noah Hiles of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports.
Analysis: The club is also expected to give Skenes extra rest in between starts a few times in the second half, when possible. Skenes threw 160.1 innings in 2024, and Hiles believes the Pirates' goal is to get the righty up to 190 frames in 2025, with 200 innings being the cap. Though the expected workload limitations seems relatively mild, it slightly dampens Skenes' rest-of-season outlook. Skenes began to see his workload curtailed a bit late in the first half, as he threw fewer than 80 pitches in three of his last four starts and fewer than 90 pitches in the other outing. Prior to that, Skenes had averaged 98.7 pitches per start in his first 16 outings of the season.