Paul Skenes Pirates Debut: What To Expect From MLB’s Top Pitching Prospect

Image credit: Paul Skenes (Photo by Christopher Pasatieri/Getty Images)

The day many in baseball have clamored for since Spring Training is finally almost here. Paul Skenes, the Pirates’ top prospect and MLB’s top pitching prospect, will make his major league debut Saturday against the Cubs, the club announced Wednesday afternoon. 

Skenes, the top overall pick in the 2023 draft, has dominated Triple-A to begin the season. Skenes has a 0.99 ERA and a 0.91 WHIP over 27.1 innings. He struck out 42.9% of batters he faced while walking just 7.6%. Last week, Skenes met multiple significant milestones as he made two starts over a six day period, and went six innings for the first time as a professional last Tuesday. 

Skenes provides the Pirates with an immediate midrotation starter with potential to lead the Pittsburgh rotation for years to come. The team is currently 17-21 but is just five games out in a wide-open NL Central. Skenes slots in behind fellow rookie phenom Jared Jones at the top of the Pirates rotation, as a formidable one-two punch of young pitching talent. 

Skenes has been as advertised in 2024, mixing a four-seam fastball that sits 99-100 mph with nearly 15 inches of horizontal run, a power sweeper in the mid-to-high-80s and a splinker that mixes traits of a sinker and splitter, sitting 94-95 mph with true sink and over 14 inches of horizontal run on average. Skenes has also shown a cutter and more of a classic changeup. The deep pitch mix Skenes has shown in 2024 is a departure from his dominant fastball-slider mix he deployed heavily at LSU. 

Skenes is on his way to the major leagues and is ready to breathe life into a fledgling Pirates core.