Pirates Phenom Paul Skenes Completes Remarkable Year as Pro

Reuters

13:56 JST, July 17, 2024

ARLINGTON, Texas — Paul Skenes capped a remarkable 53-week run as a professional on Tuesday night, starting the All-Star Game for the National League in the latest of a seemingly endless series of firsts.

The Pittsburgh Pirates drafted Skenes first overall in the MLB draft on July 9, 2023, making him the only player ever to win a College World Series, be named Most Outstanding Player in the tournament and go No. 1 in the draft in the same year.

His second year in the pros started with a bang, too.

Just a few days after the one-year anniversary of being selected by the Pirates, Skenes became the first rookie pitcher named to start the All-Star Game since Hideo Nomo in 1995.

“Pretty dang cool,” said Skenes, who arrived via the red carpet at the ballpark Tuesday wearing a superhero motif of sorts — all white suit, black necktie, aviator shades — and his girlfriend, LSU gymnast Livvy Dunne, gripping his left hand.

In the bottom of the first inning of the Midsummer Classic, Skenes got Cleveland Guardians outfielder Steven Kwan to pop out before he retired Baltimore Orioles shortstop Gunnar Henderson on a groundout.

Juan Soto drew a walk against Skenes, who then got Soto’s New York Yankees teammate, Aaron Judge, to ground into a forceout to complete a scoreless first. Skenes threw 16 pitches in the frame, 11 of which were strikes.

“With two outs, you know, you’re trying to extend the inning. Just kind of threw him everything,” Skenes said of his battle with Soto. “Missed with a couple of breaking balls. Yeah, just missed on that last pitch.”

Atlanta Braves left-hander Max Fried took over for Skenes to start the second.

“I just watched him on the TV. Kid’s got good stuff. He’s had a great start to his career,” said Baltimore right-hander Corbin Burnes, who got the start for the American League. “Obviously he was only drafted about a year ago, so it’s crazy — the kind of ride he’s been on the last year. But he’s got incredible stuff, great arm, and he should have a pretty long career in this game.”

The most valuable part of the All-Star Game for Skenes? Getting to learn from the veterans in the NL dugout. After completing the first inning, Skenes stuck around for the entire contest, a 5-3 victory by the AL.

“Just being able to talk with the guys was the biggest thing, being able to pick their brains,” Skenes said. “I was in the dugout for a good portion of it, and then I went under and ate, that kind of thing. I was eating with a couple of other All-Star pitchers.

“So the only time I’m going to have this opportunity is today with this team. So I just wanted to kind of get as much as I could from them.”

Skenes had visions of a Shohei Ohtani-type role in the big leagues. As a 15-year-old with massive dreams, he was in attendance in Anaheim in 2018 when Ohtani made his first big-league start as a pitcher.

Two years ago, Skenes hit double-digit home runs and double-digit wins. With a .367 batting average, he was named the John Olerud Award winner as the nation’s top two-way player.

When he transferred from Air Force to LSU, the BP sessions were dumped for a decided focus on pitching. The 6-foot-6, 237-pound Skenes gently lobbied LSU to take his swings like his high school predecessors Nolan Arenado and Matt Chapman, but he didn’t resist the vision the Tigers had for him — that of an ace right-hander with top-of-the-rotation stuff.

On draft day last year, Skenes said his goal was to “be in the big leagues as long as possible and as soon as possible,” but his arrival might be ahead of schedule.

Since he was called up by the Pirates on May 9, Skenes has struck out 89 batters with 13 walks across 66 1/3 innings. In his final start before the break last Thursday in Milwaukee, he left the game with a no-hitter through seven innings. It was his second hitless outing in 11 major league starts.

He has never lost a game in the pros, and no team has served Skenes a loss since Arkansas a year and a half ago.

In his lone season at LSU, he was 13-2 with a 1.69 ERA and led Division I with 209 strikeouts in 122 2/3 innings.

“There’s not a lot of things you can do,” said Reds shortstop Elly De La Cruz, a fellow NL All-Star. “You’ve just got to react. He’s nasty. He’s nasty.”

Scouts seated behind home plate at Wrigley Field for Skenes’ dominant start in May clocked more than 20 percent of his pitches at 100 mph or faster. Multiple pitches in the 90s measured at more than one foot of break. Significant? The distance between the center of the plate and either corner is 12 inches.

“That’s what attracted us to him — his ability with the pitch mix,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said in May. “You can look up and see 101 mph and get excited about it. The fact that he can spin the ball behind in the count, you don’t see guys come out of college a year ago that have the ability to do that.”

While Tuesday represented a significant mile marker in Skenes’ rare journey, outcomes and single-game performances are not part of Skenes’ focus, a point Pirates general manager Ben Cherington first noted while preparing for the 2023 draft.

“What you also learn about Paul as you get to know him is that he’s got this thirst for getting better,” Cherington said. “Not only willing, but wants to take on the challenge, whether that was going to Air Force Academy out of high school or transferring to the SEC for his draft year. Whatever’s next, he’s going to want it.”