Pittsburgh Pirates call up Paul Skenes, announce MLB debut for May 11

Former LSU standout Paul Skenes has officially gotten the Major League call-up by the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The team announced the news on its Twitter account on Wednesday afternoon. Skenes will make his debut on May 11.

Skenes, who was the No. 1 overall MLB Draft pick in 2023, has thoroughly impressed in the minor leagues. He threw for three different teams in 2023 and put together a 5.40 ERA after making five starts. However, he would significantly improve in 2024 as he got more comfortable.

The talented flamethrower has started seven games this year and sports a 0.99 ERA. He has gone 27.1 innings and allowed just three earned runs on 17 hits, striking out 45 while walking only eight.

That got him the call-up from the Pirates.

There is a whole lot of potential for the former LSU standout, who spent just one year with the Tigers after transferring in from Air Force. But what a year it was.

LSU captured a national championship with Paul Skenes as the ace on the staff, and he was every bit the part of an arm that could carry you to a championship.

Skenes was named the 2023 Dick Howser Trophy winner, the National Player of the Year by D1 Baseball and Collegiate Baseball, a consensus first-team All-American and the College World Series Most Outstanding Player.

That came after he was a first-team All-American in both of his two years at Air Force.

In his college career, Paul Skenes went 24-6 as a starter and had a 2.18 ERA. He even saved 11 games, doing so as a freshman at Air Force. He struck out 335 batters in 235.0 innings pitched, while walking only 59.

Astoundingly, Skenes gave up only 14 home runs in his college pitching career, a remarkable feat.