Kyle Peterson on Paul Skenes: This is a Major League starter today
People have to be running out of words to describe Paul Skenes. We are watching another masterclass performance unfold from the LSU ace on Saturday, mowing through Tennessee batters through three innings. In what should be college baseball’s toughest competition in Omaha, Skenes is making it look easy.
The 2023 MLB Draft will take place on July 9 and Skenes will not have to wait long to hear his name. Somebody in the top five, probably top three, will be taking him and walk away from the first round feeling really good. Skenes is viewed as a potential franchise ace and according to ESPN’s Kyle Peterson, it might be soon.
“I’m going to be really interested in, whoever grabs him, how fast they put him in the big leagues,” Peterson said during the LSU-Tennessee broadcast. “This is a Major League starter, today. It’s not like your five guy. This is somebody you’re rolling out there and saying ‘okay, you get the big boys right now.’ It’s stuff you don’t see.”
The top three picks of the 2023 MLB Draft read as such. Pittsburgh will have No. 1 overall, followed by the Washington Nationals and Detroit Tigers. An LSU player might hear his name called first but Dylan Crews is the candidate. Seeing both Washington and Detroit pass on Skenes would be incredibly surprising.
Washington is currently in last place of the NL East, sitting 14 games under .500. Detroit does not have a winning record either at 29-39 but due to a weak AL Central, the Tigers are just five games back in the division.
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If one of those two teams does wind up selecting him, it’s highly unlikely we see Skenes go from Omaha to a Major League rotation. Peterson believes the capability is there but teams will be hesitant to rush any kind of promotion.
Skenes has been dubbed the best college pitching prospect since San Diego State‘s Stephen Strasburg. He went No. 1 overall to Washington in 2009 but did not make his debut until June 8, 2010. He started off in the Arizona Fall League before going through AA and AAA before his callup.
Point being, even the dominant pitchers need some fine-tuning before hitting the Majors.
Even so, Skenes’ stuff is on full display against Tennessee and it might be too much to deny. He is consistently pumping out 100 miles per hour with his fastball. We even saw it get as high as 102 mph early, blowing pitches right by Volunteer hitters. Get the offspeed pitches working and it’s almost unfair.
Entering his Saturday night start, Skenes had a 1.77 ERA to his name. Just 21 earned runs on the season for Skenes over 107 innings pitched, striking out 188 batters and walking just seven. Those are some special stats for anybody but especially when considering Skenes was a Friday night starter in the SEC on a weekly basis.