The Pittsburgh Pirates are calling up star prospect Paul Skenes, and the hard-hitting right-hander will make his debut against the Chicago Cubs on Saturday at PNC Park.
The 21-year-old Skenes, considered the best pitching talent in a generation, will arrive in Pittsburgh after dominating Triple-A, allowing three earned runs and striking out 45 batters in 27â…“ innings.
After one of the finest seasons ever for a college pitcher, Skenes went to the Pirates with the No. 1 pick in the July 2023 draft and signed for $9.2 million, the largest for an amateur in baseball history. It was a bonus. Pittsburgh limited his workload after a difficult junior season at LSU, in which he struck out 209 hitters and walked only 20 in 122⅔ innings, while going 13–2 with a 1.69 ERA.
Although evaluators believed he was major-league ready when Pittsburgh drafted Skeens, the Pirates chose to develop him slowly and avoid a potential midseason pullback in his innings in 2024. Entered. By limiting Skane’s pitch count in the minor leagues — he hasn’t thrown more than 75 pitches in a Triple-A start this year — the Pirates hope he can join a rotation that also includes hard-throwing rookie Jared Jones . The remainder of the season.
How to handle elite pitching prospects has long been a mystery for front offices, especially with the proliferation of arm injuries to hard-throwing starters this season. Skane’s two closest counterparts in terms of college production and major league preparation were Washington Nationals right-hander Stephen Strasburg and Cubs right-hander Mark Pryor, both of whom had flashes of brilliance in the big leagues but ultimately had their careers cut short. It has been done. Injuries.
Weighing in at 6-foot-6 and 235 pounds, Skenes takes over as the hardest-throwing starter in the game – and perhaps the highest-velocity rotation member in baseball history. At Triple-A Indianapolis, Skenes’ four-seam fastball has reached over 102.1 mph. He also added a splinker – a combination splitter and sinker that was thrown by Minnesota Twins closer Jhoan Duran – at 95 mph, complementing it with a slider in the mid-to-high 80s, adding a soft changeup that Runs at 88 mph, and sometimes takes slow curves.
Although the Pirates are currently in last place in the National League Central, that’s more due to their lethality than their strong weapons. Few starters in the NL have been as impressive as the 22-year-old Jones, and with the addition of Skunks veterans Mitch Keller, Martin Pérez and Bailey Falter, the Pirates now have arguably the best rotation in the division.
