Mookie Betts, Marcus Semien agree that Paul Skenes is 'worth the hype'

When LSU superstar Paul Skenes was selected with the No. 1 overall draft pick in 2023, most figured it wouldn’t take him long to work his way through the minor leagues and up to the big league level.

Even then, few could have predicted he’d be so successful in the big leagues so fast.

But we seem to be in a different era these days, one in which stars like Skenes or Wyatt Langford can work their way to the bigs in less than a year. College stars are just built differently these days.

“You’ve got the whole arsenal,” Mookie Betts said on the On Base with Mookie Betts podcast. “I mean I turn on college baseball now and these dudes are all throwing 95-plus. It wasn’t like that before. So as long as they can kind of fine-tune it and get into pro ball, especially a guy like Skenes, sitting 100… I think he is worth the hype.”

Paul Skenes has been exceptional in his MLB debut so far. He has started seven games and posted a 4-0 record, with a 2.29 ERA. He’s thrown 39.1 innings and struck out 53 while walking just seven, showing an insane amount of control at the big league level.

More importantly, opposing teams just aren’t hitting him cleanly. They have just a .221 average against him.

For his part, Betts is drooling at the prospect of facing Skenes the again. He wants all the smoke. He was held hitless in his first go-round against Skenes on June 5.

“I’m looking forward to facing him,” Betts said. “I always look forward to facing the challenge of the best to see where I’m at.”

Paul Skenes spent one year at LSU after transferring in from Air Force. During that lone season, he elevated himself as the top prospect in the country.

Skenes was the 2023 Dick Howser Trophy winner, the 2023 National Player of the Year by D1Baseball and Collegiate Baseball, the 2023 National Pitcher of the year by the College Baseball Foundation and a 2023 consensus first-team All-American.

Suffice it to say, there were no shortage of accolades for the flamethrower and so far Paul Skenes is making them all look very deserved at the Major League Level.