at least not yet.
It was late July 2023, and the recently drafted No. 1 overall pick — coming off one of the greatest pitching seasons in college baseball history — was in Bradenton, Florida for an intake meeting with his new employer. Skenes, director of player development John Baker and pitching coordinator Josh Hopper settled into Hopper’s office at the Pirates’ spring training complex.
Even the most optimistic outlook for the scions could not have predicted this future. Less than a year later, the 6-foot-6 runner is scheduled to start the All-Star Game for the National League on Tuesday. He is the first player to make the All-Star team a year after being drafted first overall.
And he deserves the respect: Skenes has taken MLB by storm, dominating hitters to the tune of a 1.90 ERA in his first 11 starts, capturing shocks, imaginations and eyeballs along the way.
But the path to professional stardom first ran through Florida’s Gulf Coast, where the three men gathered to chart a developmental path. The goal of their meeting was self-evident: figure out how to guide the most exciting pitching prospect of the last decade to big league dominance. Baker and Hopper came prepared with a set of suggestions, but asked Skenes to self-evaluate before sharing them.
“Without even looking at our list, they listed (our recommendations) in that exact order,” Baker, who has had similar meetings with every player joining Pittsburgh’s minor-league system, told Yahoo Sports. “Things he was thinking about himself. This is the only time I have been in such an environment with a new player.
“And their list was more extensive than ours, and it was also more self-deprecating.”
One of the top items on Skenes’ agenda was to incorporate a consistent third pitch, which could help him better neutralize left-handers. He troubled all batters his junior year at LSU – posting a 1.69 ERA with 209 strikeouts and a .449 OPS allowed in 122 2/3 IP – but he did so almost exclusively on a two-pitch, fastball-slider combo. Did it with confidence. The mustachioed flamethrower occasionally showed variations in quality, but he told Baker and Hopper he wanted something different, something better, something that could fool the best hitters on the planet.
And so Skeens got to work, crafting and tinkering with what would eventually become the “Splinker,” offering a unicorn with the speed of a sinker and the vertical depth of a splitter. This is an awesome, awesome cheat code that has helped Skenes quickly become a superstar.
Developing such an impressive pitch in such a short time is an example of what makes Skenes special. Only someone with the rare combination of athletic ability, competitive intensity, work ethic and intellectual humility could learn and deploy such an offering.
Skenes created Splinker, and in turn, Splinker created Skenes.
While Skenes toyed with the pitch during his brief, five-start pro debut last summer, Pirates officials did not see the pitch in person until late last winter.
Skanes spent part of last offseason working with Bulldogs head coach Wes Johnson at the University of Georgia, sources told Yahoo Sports. Johnson, one of the most respected minds in the pitching world, was Skane’s pitching coach at LSU and played a key role in developing the Air Force transfer into one of the best pitching prospects in MLB history.
At the end of last offseason, Hopper and Pirates pitching coach Oscar Marin traveled to Athens, Georgia to see the pitching in person. His report was unbelievable.
“I remember hearing about it … that he was throwing something 95-96 that had negative (vertical motion),” Baker told Yahoo Sports. “Nobody has ever seen anything like this before.
“It was one of those situations where, if I heard about another player, I’d say, ‘Yeah, OK.’ But you hear about it (Skeins), and you say, ‘Yeah, that’s probably true.’ “And we got to see it when he came to spring training.”
Pirates catcher Henry Davis also saw early presentations of the pitch during the offseason.
“It was more vertical and more depth than a changeup from time to time,” Davis told Yahoo Sports. “But this was when he was throwing it closer to 92-ish, like 92-94. He wasn’t completely innovative, just seeing how it would complement the arsenal.
Assistant director of pitching Jeremy Bleach said: “The biggest thing is he had a vision of what it was going to be. “Our staff probably helped guide him the last 5 yards.”
The finished product is a pitch unlike any other: an offering with so much vertical movement that Statcast classifies it as a splitter. Yet it averages 94.1 mph and has reached 97 on several occasions. Based on rate, the pitch — which Skane refers to as a sinker — has already become the most effective offering in MLB this season, according to Statcast’s run value metric.
Davis said, “It’s crazy… some of the best things I’ve ever seen, obviously.” “And he’s been a full-time pitcher for two years?”
In fact, it was just two years ago that Skenes played his final game at the Air Force Academy before transferring to LSU. That contest was a regional playoff game against the University of Texas, with Skane batting catcher and cleanup for the Falcons.
Once Skenes arrived in Baton Rouge, it immediately became clear that his future was in jeopardy. As the Pacer began competing in fall scrimmages, his new teammates began to understand the type of person and player he had joined their program.
Two of Skenes’ former LSU teammates – Nationals outfielder Dylan Cruz and Rays first baseman Tre’ Morgan – were in Arlington, Texas, over the weekend to participate in this year’s Futures Game, which features the best prospects in the minor leagues. In interviews with Yahoo Sports, neither of them expressed the slightest surprise about Skane’s lightning-quick path to big-league stardom.
“When I was in college with him, I thought he was a big leaguer starting for a big league team at the time,” said Cruz, the No. 2 pick in last year’s draft. “He’s a special talent.”
Nevertheless, Morgan was surprised at how high Skenes’ dominance had reached. He said, “It’s amazing to see him do what he did in college – virtually the same thing – against the best hitters in the world.”
But Skenes isn’t quite the same pitcher he was a year ago. Splinker has refined his mix and made it a more formidable force not only against lefties, for whom he was looking for another answer, but also against right-handers. It’s not like it was last season, when he was tearing the collegians apart. he changed.
Again, the essence of Skenes — the determination, the fastball, the slider, the energy on the mound that looks like a satisfied Rottweiler enjoying himself chewing out opponents — is unbreakable.
Furthermore, investigative introspection and constructive self-criticism are a big part of what makes Skanes generational. It would have been easy, even understandable, for him to rest on his laurels and stick to the pitch mix that propelled him to extraordinary heights in college. Many pitchers, ballplayers, people in general, have to experience failure first in order to accept that change is necessary.
Not skeins.
“He (just) doesn’t want to be great,” Bleich said. “He wants to be the best.”
The present and future of the Pittsburgh Pirates adapted to his need before his owners even had a chance to tell him. His desire to develop – and his uncanny physical ability to develop a brilliant new pitch – enabled him to progress quickly and make a historic first 11 major league starts.
Looking back, Baker said, “He could strike out major-league hitters with just his fastball-slider.”
“But I don’t know if he’s an All-Star.”
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