PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – It’s one of the strongest appeals about the Pirates first-round pick, scouts and experts saying Paul Skenes stuff is major league ready. Does Skenes feel like his pitches can get MLB hitters out right now?
“I don’t know,” Skenes said while on a Zoom call with reporters Sunday. “I know stuff-wise I can look at models and other people’s stuff. In a vacuum, people are telling me my stuff plays in the big leagues.”
The numbers, in arguably the strongest conference in college baseball, tell a story of readiness. In 122.2 innings, an ERA of 1.69, WHIP of 0.75, striking out 209 and walking 20. Some of those previously mentioned experts were calling those numbers generational.
Pirates GM Ben Cherington was not ready to proclaim anything minutes after drafting the 6’6”, 260 pounder with the first overall selection in the 2023 MLB Draft. He first has to get him signed (although Cherington said they discussed those details before drafting him), go through some physicals and do an assessment with him. Cherington expects Skenes will have stayed in shape, but they will work on a schedule to potentially pitch professional baseball this season.
“Certainly anticipate and hope he’ll be ramping back up in 2023 and be able to pitch in baseball games in 2023, but we haven’ gotten far enough into that yet to be able to share any detail,” Cherington said Sunday night.
That would be a big step to getting the big righty with the Pirates sooner rather than later. Cherington said when they drafted Henry Davis number one overall in 2021 they wanted to fast-track him to the majors. If not for the injuries, most notably playing through and also having injured list stints with a broken hand, Davis could have been in the majors his second season. If they are able to get Skenes starts in pro ball this year, they should get a feel for where he should start the 2024 season. Even if that is in the minors, he could begin at a high level which would make for a quick transition to the majors.
It's more than just how professional hitters react to his pitches, Skenes said there are intangibles he will have to deal with. Most notably how well he is physically prepared to pitch 30 starts with five days rest compared to 19 starts in college with seven days rest.
“I know I’ve watched the game for so long and it always felt so distant just because I’ve been a fan sitting in the stands watching all of those guys compete,” Skenes said. “Now, I don’t know exactly what to expect because it’s so close. To an extent it’s my decision when I get to the big leagues based on how I do and how I work. It’s also someone else’s decision to pull me up.”
“I think I’m close. I don’t know exactly how close but I’m going to do everything in my power to get there as soon as possible.”
Being 1st overall pick
“It means a lot,” Skenes said. “It’s super humbling. I was in shock when I heard. A year or two ago, I never thought it was a possibility to be the first overall pick. Again, I don’t know what I was expecting coming into today. But it means a lot to be the first overall pick. I’m just looking forward to what’s to come with playing baseball and hopefully winning a World Series or two in Pittsburgh.”
Just started slider
His slider called by some the nastiest pitch in all of college baseball, and Skenes said he’s just being really throwing it this year. He called it a sweeper, which seems to be the hip name for a slider now. He said before that he was mostly a two-pitch guy, which when you throw with that velocity, can work.
“I've actually always been a changeup pitcher,” Skenes admitted. “Throughout high school, there were times in the fall when I pitched in high school I wasn’t allowed to throw a slider. With our high school coach, that's just how he ran the program, which I'm super grateful for because it made me develop feel for the change up. Up till this year, I didn't really have a very good slider and I didn't know how to pitch on the slider. So, I was fastball changeup, mostly. So, I think I've always had pretty good feel for the changeup.”
Two-way player?
While he did it early in his college career at the Air Force Academy, Skenes said he didn’t pitch and catch at LSU to focus on his game and winning a national championship, which obviously they accomplished. When listening to him, it didn’t appear that was important or even doable in pro ball.
“If I were a two-way player, I know my body would not feel as good as it did throughout the year,” Skenes said. “Two-waying kind of gets in the way of player development because you’re splitting your time and energy and focus. What you’re seeing at the big-league level with Shohei Ohtani is it’s very possible to be elite both ways, but I think it does take a lot of time, energy and effort to do so. Just how my body works, having long limbs, having so much rotation in my hips, it was very taxing on my body to do both, especially right-handed.”