Jay Johnson goes in-depth on transfer recruitment of Paul Skenes

When Paul Skenes hit the open market last offseason, there was nobody more popular in the NCAA transfer portal. The former two-way player could have committed to any program in the country but wound up with Jay Johnson in Baton Rouge. The move to LSU has worked out in a big way, with the Tigers getting their journey in Omaha underway on Saturday night.

Johnson was asked about the recruitment of Skenes, going in-depth on all the work they have done to make him a better player. Skenes has seen his fastball velocity take a serious uptick, hitting 100 miles per hour at times. But the slider was the first thing they were able to develop, with now-Georgia head coach Wes Johnson working with him.

“Well, we had a really deliberate plan on the pitching side of it,” Johnson said. “We got him started right when he got to campus with Coach Wes Johnson to develop his slider. There were some things that we needed to do.

“So we started to do that early. We shut him down earlier in the fall to give him more ramp-up time for the season. Then it wasn’t intentional, but I think kind of removing the two-way player thing, I started to see his ability to recover physically better. You’re minimizing the rotations because the rotation of a pitching delivery, rotation of a hitting swing, he is right-handed in both, it’s very similar.”

While at Air Force, Skenes would pitch one night and then step back into the box as a hitter the next night. Johnson thinks if LSU chose to let Paul Skenes swing the bat, he would have a serious impact on the middle of the lineup. A truly scary thought for an already impressive Tigers offense.

“I think there’s a lot of value in simplicity, I think, and he’s a great two-way player. This dude was launching home runs in fall baseball. I mean, as impressive as it gets. He definitely could make an impact. Had I just made him a position player, he would have 20 home runs right now and potentially be hitting fifth or sixth for our team.”

Instead, Skenes is taking time to develop as a full-time pitcher. It’s improved his recovery and made him more effective on the mound. Something completely new for Skenes, the success has turned him into one of the best players in the country and a top-five draft pick in this summer’s MLB Draft.

“I feel like last year he was catching,” Johnson said. “He was swinging a bat. He was running the bases. He was potentially playing first base at times. Then, also, you know, going six or seven innings in a league that’s not very easy to pitch in. I know that firsthand. I think kind of the simplicity of it, and then you take someone that is so driven, that says so disciplined, and get them on track with one thing. What does Friday to Friday look like? Then he has absolutely mastered that.

“When you are talking about recovery, when you are talking about development, velocity improvement, improving his secondary pitches, he has been able to go all-in on those things. I think that’s probably the reasoning.”