Why Paul Skenes MLB pitching debut is biggest in over a decade | Baseball Bar-B-Cast
Yahoo senior MLB analysts Jordan Shusterman and Jake Mintz discuss the highly-anticipated debut of the top overall pick in the 2023 draft Paul Skenes in Pittsburgh. Hear the full conversation on the “Baseball Bar-B-Cast” podcast - and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen.
Video Transcript
Pittsburgh has been waiting again.
It's so funny because we are so impatient with these things and understandably and you could ar oh, he was ready.
He was ready.
This is the fastest, first round of a first overall pick has reached the big leagues and I think 30 years and it feels like it took way too long.
So here he is, he will be making his debut on Saturday 4 p.m. Eastern against the Chicago Cubs and Justin Steele.
What a delightful matchup that is, I was thankful that they were calling him up now because had they waited another AAA start or two?
He would not have made his debut at home, which I think is a vital component to the hype.
I don't think they ever would have done that.
I think they just wait, would have waited, they would have waited 100% which that would have been silly because it would have been another two starts in AAA.
I believe in order to have him start at home.
So thankful that that is the case.
I will be in the building.
One of the largest sources of FOMO for me post tense FOMO.
Is that you were at the Stephen Strasburg debut in Washington DC as a fan.
It is, I believe in the 10th grade.
You were at that game.
There are a lot of people in our lives who just don't know who Paul Skeets is.
And so they are, they, these people because we're from DC, know who Stephen Strasburg is.
And so it's like, hey, remember when Strasburg came up and how that was a big deal, it's the biggest deal since that.
The fact that he's throwing 100 on its own is not wild.
He's not throwing 100 and six, but he is sitting 100 miles an hour for full outings.
That is not really.
So we've seen a handful, right?
Hunter Greene has it de Gram.
We've seen, it's, it's been a very small group that's, that's important because even those guys, their fastball is like averaging 98.9 99.3.
No, no, no.
Paul is averaging 100 miles an hour.
That is significant.
But what really is making him special is that he authored one of the great college seasons of all time with that fastball and a ridiculous slider.
And since then, he has essentially added and amplified three other pitchers.
In addition to those, this is someone who has realized when he arrived at LSU.
And even once he started starting at the Air Force Academy, I have a gift on the mound.
He was very talented as a catcher and as a hitter, I have a gift on the mound.
I'm going to give this my all.
And he is physically about his like everything you would want to see in a, in a, in a big league, a as well.
And that's what also helps drive, what makes him special.
When you see Paul Skeates, when you watch him move, you understand that you are seeing something unique because big old boys don't move like that very often.
Right?
He is, as our friend, Brent Honeywell said an absolute moose, but he has the wiriness and the dexterity and the looseness of a salamander.
And that combination is very, very special.