Paul Skenes finishes MLB debut to standing ovation from Pittsburgh crowd
Former LSU star Paul Skenes made his highly anticipated Major League Baseball debut on Saturday for the Pittsburgh Pirates. And he checked in with some serious smoke, per usual. The flamethrower threw 10 fastballs in the first inning, with the slowest being clocked at 99.8 mph. Once he wrapped up his debut, Skenes got a standing ovation from the crowd in the Steel City.
He struck out his first batter with a pitch that was clocked at 101 miles per hour. Once he left the game in the top of the fifth inning, the Pirates had a 6-1 lead on the Chicago Cubs. Once Skenes had left, the Cubs rallied and tied the game at 6-6 in the bottom of the fifth. The game was delayed due to weather in the bottom of the fifth.
Skenes became the first pitcher in the Major Leagues this year to throw nine first inning pitches at 100-plus miles per hour. The Pirates phenom averaged 100.1 miles per hour on his fastball in his big-league debut, according to MLB Pipeline.
More on Paul Skenes prolific baseball career thus far
Skenes, who was the No. 1 overall MLB Draft pick in 2023, has thoroughly impressed in the minor leagues. He threw for three different teams in 2023 and put together a 5.40 ERA after making five starts. However, he would significantly improve in 2024 as he got more comfortable.
The talented flamethrower has played in 12 games for the Pirates in the minor leagues, allowing a batting average of .179, with an ERA of 1.85, while throwing 55 strikeouts. Those impressive numbers got him the call-up from the franchise.
There is a whole lot of potential for the former LSU standout, who spent just one year with the Tigers after transferring in from Air Force. But what a year it was.
LSU captured a national championship with Paul Skenes as the ace on the staff, and he was every bit the part of an arm that could carry you to a championship.
Skenes was named the 2023 Dick Howser Trophy winner, the National Player of the Year by D1Baseball and Collegiate Baseball, a consensus first-team All-American and the College World Series Most Outstanding Player.
That came after he was a first-team All-American in both of his two years at Air Force.
In his college career, Paul Skenes went 24-6 as a starter and had a 2.18 ERA. He even saved 11 games, doing so as a freshman at Air Force. He struck out 335 batters in 235.0 innings pitched, while walking only 59.
Astoundingly, Skenes gave up only 14 home runs in his college pitching career, a remarkable feat.
On3’s Thomas Goldkamp also contributed to this article.