Pirates’ No. 1 pick Paul Skenes dominates professional debut
BRADENTON, Fla. (BVM) – Paul Skenes made his professional debut on Thursday almost exactly a month after the Pittsburgh Pirates selected him with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 MLB Draft.
It was a dominant, although short, outing for the former LSU baseball star who was the starting pitcher for the FCL Pirates in their afternoon matchup with the FCL Twins. In Skenes’ first appearance since pitching against Wake Forest in the College World Series on June 22, the 21-year-old tossed a 1-2-3 inning with a strikeout before being pulled after just 10 pitches.
Paul Skenes professional debut:
1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 SO pic.twitter.com/oWpjU27pym
— Milb Central (@milb_central) August 10, 2023
Skenes made the most of his short professional debut, however, getting a groundout and flyout before striking out Walter Jenkins, the Twins’ No. 5 overall draft pick in 2023. In addition to the clean inning, Skenes clocked a blazing, 101 mph fastball on the radar gun twice.
It was an excellent professional debut but somewhat expected due to the stiff competition Skenes faced in the SEC at LSU in comparison to the Florida Complex League. The 6-foot-6 righthander was considered the top player available in the 2023 MLB Draft after going 12-2 with a 1.69 ERA in 19 starts last season for the Tigers. In 122.2 innings of work, Skenes struck out an eye-popping 209 batters while only walking 20.
If Skenes’ professional debut was any indication, his future with the Pirates is bright.
