The Pittsburgh Pirates selected LSU starting pitcher Paul Skenes with the first overall pick in the 2023 MLB Draft on Sunday night. Skenes had the second-shortest odds to go No. 1, behind only Florida outfielder Wyatt Langford.
He may not have been the betting favorite, but that was largely due to skepticism over whether the Pirates would meet Skenes’ reported demands for an above-slot signing bonus. By pure talent, Skenes is a no-doubter at No. 1, coming off of one of the greatest college pitching seasons we’ve ever seen. Skenes was a highly-coveted transfer after dominating as a two-way player at Air Force, and though he focused strictly on pitching this past season at LSU, he lived up to the hype and then some — posting a 1.69 ERA with a whopping 209 strikeouts in just 122.2 innings as the Tigers won the College World Series.
The fastball is the headliner, legitimate triple-digits gas:
Paul Skenes, 99mph ⛽️ pic.twitter.com/yM5wqs976u
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) May 25, 2023
Its shape doesn’t make it quite the bat-misser you’d expect, but the righty averaged 98 mph at LSU and commands it well — with some refinement, it can be among the best in baseball. Of course, it’s not even the best pitch in Skenes’ arsenal. That would be his slider, a mid-80s beast with razor-blade break and eye-popping whiff rates. Add to those two a power change that also projects as at least an above-average offering, and it’s no wonder college hitters couldn’t touch him this year. Skenes is, put simply, a generational pitching prospect without any real weaknesses.
He’d fit into any Major League organization, but he’s an especially clean fit in a Pirates farm system that skews a little bat-heavy at the top. Between the recently-promoted Henry Davis and Nick Gonzales, last season’s top-five pick Termarr Johnson, and Endy Rodriguez, Pittsburgh isn’t lacking for impact bats, but they could very much use an arm with top-of-the-rotation upside to lead a group of young MLB arms including Johan Oviedo, Luis Ortiz and Roansy Contreras.
