Paul Skenes

Paul David Skenes

Bats Right, Throws Right
Height 6' 6", Weight 235 lb.
School United States Air Force Academy, Louisiana State University
High School El Toro High School
Debut May 11, 2024

Born May 29, 2002 in Fullerton, CA USA

Biographical Information[edit]

Pitcher Paul Skenes was the Most Outstanding Player of the 2023 College World Series, helping to lead Louisiana State University to the title. A few weeks later, he was selected first overall by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 2023 amateur draft.

Skenes was well-known even before these two events. He was a member of the USA College National Team that won Gold at the 2022 Haarlem Baseball Week and he and teammate Dylan Crews were dominating speculations about who would be selected first overall of the 2023 amateur draft, with a chance that the pair would go first and second, something unseen in the history of the amateur draft; this is in fact what happened. Crews had won the Golden Spikes Award as the best college baseball player in the country on June 25th, and the next day LSU defeated the University of Florida in the College World Series' final game to win the seventh title in school history. Skenes had gone 12-2, 1.69 in his junior season, becoming the first college pitcher to top 200 strikeouts in 12 years when he finished with 209 in 122 2/3 innings. He had transferred from the United States Air Force Academy where he had gone 10-3, 2.73 as a sophomore in 2022. That year he also won the "John Olerud Award" as the best two-way player in college, as he also hit .314 with 13 homers in 52 games as a catcher and DH when not pitching. With LSU, he was used exclusively as a pitcher and many scouts called him the best college pitcher they had seen since Stephen Strasburg, which justified Pittsburgh's choice to take him with the draft's top selection. On July 18th, the Pirates signed him with a bonus of $9.2 million, the highest ever.

He was assigned to the FCL Pirates to begin his pro career. In his first game on August 10, 2023, he retired all three batters he faced while flashing triple-digit heat. He immediately moved up to the Class A Bradenton Marauders for his next start on August 15th, striking out two in a scoreless inning of work. The Pirates were clearly looking to limit his innings while getting him acclimated to the pro game. Overall, he made 5 starts but totaled just 6 2/3 innings with 4 runs allowed, 2 walks and 10 Ks. There was a lot of excitement around his presence at the Pirates' spring training camp in 2024, with some speculating that he could make the team's opening day starting rotation, but GM Ben Cherington threw some cold water on that on March 5th when he stated that while Skenes would remain in the big league camp for a while, he would still start the season in the minors. He was assigned to the AAA Indianapolis Indians of the International League and was outstanding, not giving up his first run until his fifth start, on April 24th, although he did not have any decisions because the Pirates were keeping him on a very low pitch count, meaning he rarely stayed in the game beyond the 4th inning. His first run was given up to the Omaha Storm Chasers in the first outing in which he was allowed to pitch into the 5th inning and he racked up 7 strikeouts, giving him 34 in 17 innings. The first run came in the 2nd inning, on a triple by CJ Alexander followed by a single by Nate Eaton, who was thrown out attempting to advance to second. He allowed another run, unearned this time, in the 4th. He had no decisions with a 0.99 ERA in 7 starts and 27 1/3 innings when the Pirates announced on May 8th that he was being called up to Pittsburgh in order to make his debut within a few days.

Skenes' major league debut came on May 11th as the starting pitcher against the Chicago Cubs when he went 4 inning, allowing 3 runs on 6 hits and 2 walks, whole striking out 7 opponents. He was not involved in the decision as the Pirates ended up 10-9 winners. He struck out the first two batters he faced in the game, Mike Tauchman and Seiya Suzuki, before walking Cody Bellinger and his pitches were clocked above 100 mph 17 times during the outing; the first run he allowed came on a solo homer by Nico Hoerner in the 4th, and the other two came in the 5th after he left after allowing the first two batters he faced to reach base. He again faced the Cubs in his second start on May 17th, and this time was absolutely dominant. He struck out the first seven batters he faced, and left after six innings, not having surrendered a hit and with 11 Ks to his name. He was credited with a 9-3 win, his first in the majors. On May 29, he fanned nine on his birthday, a record for a Pirates pitcher on their birthday. After his tenth start on July 5th, a 14-2 win over the New York Mets, his record stood at 5-0, 2.12 with 78 strikeouts in 59 1/3 innings. Not only had he been everything that the Pirates expected, but there was a push for him to be named to start the 2024 All-Star Game - even before he was named to the team. It was of course the first time that a player who had been the first overall pick in the previous year's draft had been selected to play in the Mid-summer Classic. His final start before the All-Star break, on July 11th against the Milwaukee Brewers, was perhaps his best so far: he pitched seven innings without allowing a hit or a run, walked just one, and added 11 strikeouts to his growing total. The Bucs won the game, 1-0, and he was removed after seven innings, having thrown 99 pitches, and Colin Holderman gave up back-to-back singles to Jake Bauers and Garrett Mitchell, the first two batters he faced in the 8th, but those were Milwaukee's only two hits of the game. The win gave him a record of 6-0 with an ERA of 1.90 and 89 strikeouts. Nolan Ryan was the only prior major leaguer to have two starts of 11+ K and no hits in a season (in Ryan's case, both of the starts were complete game no-hitters). It seems that that latest performance was the clincher in securing the starting nod in the Midsummer Classic. The last rookie to start an All-Star Game was Hideo Nomo 29 years prior and the last Pirate to start on the hill was Jerry Reuss 49 years earlier. Skenes' 11 games played were the fewest of anyone selected to an All-Star Game ever. He pitched a scoreless 1st inning in the game, completing his assignment by getting Aaron Judge to ground out on his first pitch in the confrontation every one was looking forward to.

In his first start after the break on July 23rd, he pitched into the 9th inning for the first time of his major league career, but was charged with a 2-1 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals even though he struck out 8, walked none and gave up just 4 hits. It was a one-out single by Alec Burleson that drove in Michael Siani with St. Louis' second run and resulted in a loss for Pittsburgh. On September 9th, he recorded his 143rd strikeout to break the Pirates' rookie record that had been held since 1935 by Cy Blanton; with 9 K's in 6 innings in a 3-2 win over the Miami Marlins, he increased his total to 151 on the year with a number of starts left. The win was also his tenth of the season. He concluded what was an outstanding rookie season by being named the NL Rookie of Month for September, after going 3-1, 0.75 in 5 starts during the month. He finished his season at 11-3, 1.96 with 170 strikeouts in 133 innings. He was voted the winner of the 2024 National League Rookie of the Year Award, receiving 23 of 30 first-place votes and finishing well ahead of Jackson Merrill of the San Diego Padres. He was only the second player in Pirates history to win the award, exactly two decades after Jason Bay had been the first.

Notable Achievements[edit]

NL Rookie of the Year
2023	2024	2025
Corbin Carroll	Paul Skenes	tbd

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