Paul Skenes reveals unique reasoning behind throwing football amid Baton Rouge Regional

LSU star pitcher Paul Skenes had an unbelievable performance two days ago in the Tigers’ first game of the Baton Rouge Regional. He threw a career-high nine innings and fired 12 strikeouts in lifting the Tigers to a 7-2 victory over Tulane in their first game of the 2023 NCAA Tournament. He wasn’t pitching at all on Sunday against Oregon State, so Skenes was able to toss the football around for a bit with fans. The LSU star also took some time to talk about a wide variety of topics with the ESPN broadcast crew during the Oregon State game.

The broadcast crew asked him what pitches were working for him during his complete game on Friday. “Definitely the fast ball and the slider. Sometimes that’s all you need if you can execute it really well. But that was a really cool experience,” Skenes said.

There was a lengthy rain delay on Sunday in the Oregon State-LSU game. Rain delays have plagued the Baton Rouge Regional all weekend long. The broadcasters asked Skenes what players do during a three-hour rain delay? “It depends on who you are. I would say, probably nobody does the same thing. Dylan’s [Crews] not doing the same thing as Tommy [White] because they’re different personalities, but a lot of guys are on their phones,” Skenes said.

The broadcasters noted how they saw the LSU star with a football in his hand and tossing it around a bit. “Yeah, that’s a two days after thing for me. I always throw the football,” Skenes said. What’s the idea behind him throwing the football and what’s the purpose? “It’s a different feel than throwing a baseball, obviously. Heavier, different arm action. I don’t throw a very good spiral so I’ve gotta work on it [Laughs].”

Skenes was talking to the ESPN broadcast crew while his roommate, Thatcher Hurd was on the mound. What’s his scouting report on Hurd? “He’s got a power fastball. He’s got a really good slider. And a really good curveball. Great changeup…but primarily fastball, slider, curveball,” Skenes said.

What kind of guy is Thatcher? “He’s a goofball. He doesn’t look like that on the mound. But I room with him and I definitely see it more than anybody else,” the LSU star said.

Thatcher is actually using one of Skenes’ gloves on Sunday. “Yeah, he’s still got that on right now.” Does it have to do with superstition? “I don’t think so, just because the other one broke. I guess that one is still intact. So, he can use that one.”

The broadcast crew noted that Skenes had a sizable bruise on his leg from Friday’s performance after he was drilled by a ball. He said the adrenaline helped to shake the injury off. “Yeah, the adrenaline helps. It really helps a lot. [Laughs].

The Tigers have rallied in Sunday’s matchup and blasted a couple of home runs to take the lead after the rain delay. LSU currently leads the game 5-3 in the top of the 7th inning.