PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – Pirates ace and National League starting pitcher at the All-Star Game Paul Skenes dealt with hand soreness after a bullpen session on Tuesday. Skenes was catching nine-year-old Riley Wheaton at PNC Park.
"He throws hard,” Skenes said. “Everything he's dealt with or not, he throws hard for a nine-year-old. I'm not kidding when I say by the end of it, my hand was a little sore."
Wheaton, a native of Maine, was in Pittsburgh as part of the Make-A-Wish program. It was just last October Riley was rushed to Boston Children’s Hospital after being found in complete heart failure. He was diagnosed with myocarditis and received five chest tubes in four months to remove fluid from around his heart and lungs.
In January of this year, a biopsy came back positive for Angiosarcoma, which oncologists described as rare, aggressive, and terminal.
After six rounds of chemotherapy, imaging revealed Riley was in remission and is currently playing for a 10U travel baseball team. In his last start, Wheaton struck out 10 of the 16 batters he faced. It was pointed out to Skenes that it was more batters than he struck out on Monday.
“I told him you struck out 10 out of 16 batters in the game,” Riley’s mother Kristina Wheaton said. “He knows. I think he’s probably in the bullpen right now trying to catch up to your record.”
"When I was nine, I was not worried about any of the stuff he's worried about or that his parents and brother are worried about,” Skenes said. “We all get dealt adversity in some ways. His is just a lot greater and a lot sooner than a lot of us deal with. It's just very different.”
“He's probably a stronger person than I am."
“When Riley said he wanted to meet Paul Skenes, I said I can’t wait for Paul to meet Riley,” Kristina Wheaton said. “He agreed with us.”
The two threw a bullpen session where he was clocked at 46 mph. He also got to shag balls in the outfield during batting practice and said he would be able to strike out not only Skenes, but Oneil Cruz. Riley had a shy smile the entire time discussing the interaction.
“You could tell that (Skenes) read his story and he was invested in this moment,” Kristina Wheaton said. “He really took the time to be with him and make this the best day ever. Just felt like being around an old friend. To be able to relate to baseball, we are quite a baseball family. We really hope this was as impactful for Paul as it was for us.”
“To be able to meet Paul, even before I met him I felt like he was a really good person,” said Riley’s father Brad Wheaton. “Sometimes that can get lost being at such a high level. For him to take the time to meet with us and hang out with us. Just being on the field and just talking about whatever. I asked him a pile of questions. It just really shows what kind of person he is. Just an unbelievable experience. This is great and everybody else that we met along the way. Everyone is very friendly around here. We love that this is a sports city. We are sports people.”
“This was really a dream come true.”
“His nickname is the GOAT,” Kristina Wheaton said. “His buddy got him a little trophy when he was in the hospital. It’s got a dual meeting for him it’s God Over All Things and that is truly what has gotten him to where he is.”
“I don’t think it’s going to hit us until maybe next week. All of this and soaking it all in. We are just so appreciative.”
"That's a blessing about where we're at, the stage that we have,” Skenes said. “As baseball players, I think we lose sight of it. I think I have probably lost sight of it at times. Just being able to impact people, it's super humbling for a kid to want to do that, want to meet me.”
“Yeah, I'm not going to take that for granted."