Pirates have no excuse but to call up Paul Skenes immediately

Last year, the Pittsburgh Pirates selected right-hander Paul Skenes from LSU in the first round of the draft. Skenes is a high-octane pitcher with the ability to generate tons of swings and misses. That's exactly what he's done so far this year in the minor leagues. He's been quite impressive thus far, and he only added to his resume on Thursday with his latest performance.

In just 3.1 innings of work, Skenes struck out eight batters, tying his professional career high. He also only allowed one hit and two walks for Triple-A Indianapolis.

Because of this, the Pirates may have no choice but to promote him soon.

Paul Skenes continues dominance, could force Pirates' hand

If Skenes keeps this up, he may end up forcing the Pirates' hand. He is currently tied for the minor league lead with 27 strikeouts and has pitched 12.2 scoreless innings to start the season.

The Pirates are off to a strong start this year, sitting at 11-8 and in third place in a currently crowded NL Central division. Adding Skenes to the mix soon would give the Pirates a top-of-the-rotation arm with impressive velocity. Skenes has even been able to reach 102 mph on his fastball.

The Pirates are moving slowly with him, however. This is something that Skenes has said he has been frustrated by.

He has yet to complete four innings, but that should come in time. And if he stays hot, the Pirates may have no choice but to call him up to the big leagues.

"We don't go from 0-100 right away," said general manager Ben Cherington, h/t MLB.com. "Paul's so important to us long term, so we want to be really thoughtful about that.

Skenes was just drafted last year and has already found his way up to Triple-A. His rise has been even quicker than that of Jackson Holliday, who just last week made his MLB debut with the Baltimore Orioles.

Skenes has a very bright future ahead of him, and the Pirates will certainly benefit from having him around when the time comes to promote him. But that time may be coming sooner than we originally anticipated.