Skenes eyes Classic glory, but leaving something special behind

BRADENTON, Fla. -- It takes long enough to drive from LECOM Park to West Palm Beach that many players draw upon their veteran status to avoid the trip. A 3 1/2-hour slog on a bus across the state during the already-demanding Spring Training grind is something even the Pirates as a team had avoided since 2006.

Paul Skenes certainly didn’t have to make the trip. Not only was he not scheduled to pitch, he wasn’t even going to be in Bucs camp much longer.

And yet, there he was in the dugout Saturday, cheering on his team during the Bucs’ rain-shortened 5-2 win against the Astros at CACTI Park of the Palm Beaches.

Wearing the red, white and blue and representing his country matters deeply to Skenes, who departed Sunday for Team USA and the World Baseball Classic. Winning gold would mean even more.

But leaving the Pirates in the middle of Spring Training after he’s gotten a taste of how all the club’s new pieces are clicking into place was tough.

“It’s bittersweet,” Skenes said. “I genuinely don’t want to leave. If it were anything other than the WBC, I would be dreading leaving. I’m looking forward to [the World Baseball Classic], for sure, but we’re building something here that I think is going to be pretty special.

“I’m not looking forward to missing two weeks of it in the heart of Spring Training.”

The star-studded Team USA squad is managed by Mark DeRosa, who led the Americans to a silver-medal finish in the last event in 2023. Its roster reads like a who’s-who of the MLB world: Dodgers legend Clayton Kershaw, AL Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal, AL MVP and team captain Aaron Judge, AL MVP runner-up Cal Raleigh, Bobby Witt Jr., Kyle Schwarber, Alex Bregman, Bryce Harper and more.

At the middle of all that sits Skenes, the marquee arm whose eager early commitment to play opened the door for many pitchers to join in who might otherwise have respectfully declined the honor in favor of gearing up for the regular season.

The Pirates ace is set to make one exhibition start and two starts in the tournament, assuming Team USA advances as expected. Team USA will play exhibition games on Tuesday (vs. Giants, 3:05 p.m. ET on ESPN) and Wednesday (vs. Rockies, 3:10 p.m. on MLB.TV), and the team opens pool play on Friday in an 8 p.m. matchup with Brazil that will air on FOX.

“Winning gold is the biggest thing,” Skenes said. “Whichever game I’m pitching in, it doesn’t really matter. Just want to win gold.”

Drive has never been the question. Skenes collected a National League Rookie of the Year Award and a Cy Young in his first two seasons, posting a 1.96 ERA with a 0.95 WHIP and 13.5 bWAR along the way.

This won’t be Skenes’ first time wearing USA across his chest. He was part of the 12U National Team that earned silver at the 2014 COPABE Pan American Championships in Mazatlán, Mexico. He later pitched for the Collegiate National Team in ’21 and ’22, including four shutout innings against the Netherlands in 2021.

But for all that Skenes has done, he hasn’t won gold. And that’s why he’s headed to Arizona this week to join the WBC action even though the pull to stay with his MLB club is strong right now.

After a busy offseason during which Pittsburgh worked to shore up its shortcomings for the upcoming season, Skenes is stepping away from a clubhouse that believes it’s on the verge of something meaningful. That’s part of why he made the cross-state trip this weekend, despite not being scheduled to pitch.

If he’s going to be gone, he wanted to be present first.

Bucs manager Don Kelly understands both sides of the coin.

“I’m pumped for Paul to be able to represent the country,” he said. “It means a lot to him, and it’s great for Pirates fans and us to see him do that. He’s maybe a little ahead of where he’d typically be, but not terribly much. When you talk about Paul and the prep he has all the time, he takes everything into account. … He’s going to be ready to roll when that first game comes.”

Skenes was all business when talking about the American sports run in the recent Olympics.

“We’re America,” he said. “We’ve got to assert our dominance over everybody else. USA wins. It’s what we do.”

Skenes is ready to win for Team USA in 2026. But before the anthems and the vuvuzelas, there was a road trip across Florida. It was a small, almost forgettable act.

Except it wasn’t.

For a pitcher chasing gold, the harder goodbye wasn’t to Spring Training innings. It was to the clubhouse he believes is building something worth staying for.