Paul Skenes calls his MLB debut with Pirates an 'interesting outing'

On Saturday, Paul Skenes, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 MLB Draft, made his debut on the mound for the Pittsburgh Pirates. During an appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show” on Tuesday, Skenes weighed in on the difference between pitching against minor league and major league batters.

“I don’t want to call that outing a wash, but like it’s such a different and like interesting outing just because there’s so much other stuff going on there,” Skenes said. “It’s a little bit hard to kind of drown it all out. A major league debut is is a major league debut. So, I don’t know exactly.

“The hitters are definitely better. You have to be finer for sure, in terms of how you attack them and that kind of thing, but I don’t know. You’ll probably have to give me a couple more outings for me to give you a definitive answer on that.”

Skenes spent four innings on the mound in the Pirates’ 10-9 win over the Chicago Cubs. The former LSU standout tallied seven strikeouts while reaching 100 miles per hour on 17 of his 84 pitches.

Although Skenes showed flashes of greatness, he was far from perfect. He allowed six hits and three runs in the outing, notching a 6.75 ERA. After the game, Skenes evaluated his performance.

“I have to get them out quicker, regardless if they’re major league hitters or not, I just have to get them out quicker,” Skenes said. “That’s the bigger thing for me, because, I think the way I threw today, it probably would’ve been a deep [start], or bigger pitch count.”

Skenes’ never-satisfied mindset is part of the reason many experts across the country considered him a generational prospect. In his final season at LSU, Skenes recorded 209 strikeouts to set the SEC single-season record previously set by Ben McDonald of LSU in 1989.

Skenes was 13-2 in 2023 with a 1.69 ERA in 122.2 innings. Further, the 6-foot-6 cannon recorded just 20 walks and limited opponents to a .165 batting average. For his efforts, Skenes was named the 2023 Dick Howser Trophy Winner, annually awarded to the best player in college baseball.

Now, Paul Skenes will look to bring similar success to the Pirates, an organization that has not boasted a winning record since 2018. The Pirates are currently 19-23 and sit at third in the NL Central Division standings.