Paul Skenes Gave Huge Credit To Unheralded Pirates Teammate

Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes and catcher Henry Davis

Paul Skenes Gave Huge Credit To Unheralded Pirates Teammate originally appeared on SportsNet Pittsburgh. Add SportsNet Pittsburgh as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

Paul Skenes believes a Pittsburgh Pirates teammate plays a major role in his success.

The Pirates ace credited Henry Davis for calling his games during Friday's appearance on ESPN's "The Pat McAfee Show." Davis has caught all nine of Skenes' starts this season.

"I don't shake (off) a ton," Skenes said. "I'm too stupid to call my own pitches, so I let him do it. He's got my career in his hands every fifth day."

While some teams relay orders to the catcher, Skenes said the Pirates leave it to Davis and their other backstops to dictate the game plan.

"It's all him," Skenes said. "Some teams are doing the from-the-dugout stuff, but we do it where Henry calls the game. And Joey (Bart) and Endy (Rodriguez) and all our other catchers, they all call the game for themselves."

Skenes indicated that he and Davis are typically on the same page about managing his pitch arsenal.

"I think a lot of the time it's not even a conversation," Skenes said. "Cause we see how it's going in the bullpen. We see how it is between innings during the game. Sometimes a pitch just sucks, so we just stop calling it. Nothing really needs to be said then, but there's a lot of communication that goes into it."