Paul Skenes shines in 1st spring start for Pirates, retiring Orioles' No. 1 overall picks

SARASOTA, Fla. — As baseball’s top overall and pitching prospects, they needed no introductions to the diehards. They got them from the public address announcer anyway.

Now pitching for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Paul Skenes.

Leading off for the Baltimore Orioles, Jackson Holliday.

The highly anticipated showdown marked the beginning of a baseball rarity in the bottom of the first inning, when the Pirates’ battery mates and Baltimore’s first two batters all were No. 1 overall picks.

“It was kind of crazy how it lined up,” Pirates third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes said. “I’m sure it gave him even more motivation, seeing who he was going to be facing right out of the gate.”

The Pirates picked catcher Henry Davis in 2021 and Skenes in 2023, and the Orioles selected catcher Adley Rutschman in 2019 and Holliday in 2022. Where Rutschman already is an All-Star and Davis made his major-league debut last June, Holliday and Skenes are ranked the Nos. 1 and 3 prospects by MLB Pipeline.

Paul Skenes on facing three first-round picks, including two No. 1 overall choices, against Baltimore in his first spring training start for the Pirates. pic.twitter.com/x2B3XSj4NX

— Kevin Gorman (@KevinGormanPGH) February 29, 2024

“So, in the span of two hitters, you’re gonna have four (No. 1/1 picks),” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said beforehand with a spring-training shrug, downplaying the magnitude of the matchup in a Grapefruit League game. “Doesn’t happen very often, I guess.”

And to the amazement of many, the game wasn’t televised. MLB matched the Pirates and Orioles in a Spring Breakout game featuring top prospects on March 14 that will be televised on MLB Network and SportsNet Pittsburgh, so this was billed as a sneak preview.

Fans in Pittsburgh missed not only Skenes’ first start — an electric one, at that — but a four-run rally by Baltimore in the bottom of the ninth for a 9-8 win over the Pirates before 4,952 at Ed Smith Stadium.

The 6-foot-6, 250-pound right-hander retired the side in order in the first — and his only — inning, getting a groundout from Holliday and flyouts from Rutschman and Heston Kjerstad while throwing six of his 10 pitches for strikes. It was the first time in his career that Skenes faced the trio, at any level. He knows it won’t be the last.

“It’s cool, but I’m ready to do that in-season, too,” Skenes said. “Hopefully, I’m going to be pitching against them for a long time.”

Paul Skenes on his Grapefruit League debut against the Baltimore Orioles, when he retired Jackson Holliday, Adley Rutschman and Heston Kjerstad in a 1-2-3 first and topped 100 four times. pic.twitter.com/mcUvAB5bri

— Kevin Gorman (@KevinGormanPGH) February 29, 2024

It was an impressive debut in a Pirates uniform for Skenes, who signed for a draft-record $9.2 million bonus after leading LSU to the College World Series championship and pitching 6⅔ innings over five starts across three minor league levels last summer.

“I think the biggest thing is just getting out there and pitching in front of people, because adrenaline is a big thing,” Skenes said. “Just wanted to see where we’re at.”

For the 21-year-old Skenes, the biggest adjustment this spring is pitching every five or six days after serving as the Friday night starter at LSU. He didn’t do anything to disrupt his routine, even waiting until after he finished his inning to say hello to his father and his friends from his time at the U.S. Air Force who came here to see him pitch.

“My goal is to not change what I’m doing from this outing in terms of preparation, not change what I’m doing from this outing to the frickin’ Game 7 of the World Series, whenever that is,” Skenes said, perhaps unaware that the Pirates beat the Orioles in Game 7s in both the 1971 and ’79 World Series. “So, it’s a game. Game planned and did all that, got ready to compete. If anything, it’s probably calming myself down.”

Despite the short outing, Skenes mixed a four-seam fastball, slider, curveball and changeup. Five times, he topped 99 mph. Four touched triple digits, with his second pitch hitting 100 mph on the radar gun, his third clocked at 101, his seventh at 102 and his 10th at 101.

Those numbers were courtesy of the scoreboard, as Ed Smith Stadium doesn’t provide Statcast. Hayes sneaked a peek at the scoreboard to see Skenes’ velocity.

“I naturally already do it, but I wanted to see how hard he was throwing,” Hayes said. “I saw two 101s, so I was impressed.”

Skenes wasn’t as worried about his velocity as he was about facing major-league batters.

“I mean, it’s a tool,” said Skenes, who was satisfied with his performance. “I don’t know what I was today. I didn’t check once. I don’t get it on the postgame report. And, frankly, the moment it stops being there, hopefully 15 years from now, then we’ll probably have to adjust the game plan a fair amount.”

The only pitch Skenes didn’t offer was one Davis called a “splinker,” a cross between a splitter and sinker. Davis didn’t know how to describe the pitch but believes it will add another weapon to his arsenal.

“I don’t know what it is, but it’s gross,” Davis said. “As we get longer into spring training and there’s more innings, you’ll see it. Regardless of how they play, it’s going to be really good. He’s going to continue working and finding ways to get better and help the team.”

Davis helped Skenes by spotting him a lead, sending a 2-1 fastball from 2021 NL Cy Young Award winner Corbin Burnes over the left-field fence for a three-run homer with two outs in the top of the first. Even though they worked together at Pirate City all offseason, Davis said he was “pretty excited” to catch Skenes in a game for the first time.

The first out came quick, as Skenes started with an 84-mph curve for a ball. Holliday swung at the second pitch and grounded out to second baseman Nick Gonzales. The second out had everyone holding their breath, as the switch-hitting Rutschman drilled a 1-0 pitch to deep right before Edward Olivares snared it at the warning track.

In the first meeting of No. 1 overall picks, Pirates RHP Paul Skenes (2023) gets Orioles leadoff batter/2B Jackson Holliday (2022) to ground out. pic.twitter.com/2AX6Bma5Aa

— Kevin Gorman (@KevinGormanPGH) February 29, 2024

In the second meeting of No. 1 overall picks, Orioles catcher Adley Rutschman (2019) takes Pirates RHP Paul Skenes (2023) deep to right before Edward Olivares makes a nice catch at the warning track. pic.twitter.com/yb5K68nVDX

— Kevin Gorman (@KevinGormanPGH) February 29, 2024

Skenes got no breather with the third batter, as Orioles outfielder Heston Kjerstad was the No. 2 overall pick in 2020 who played 13 games in the majors last season.

The left-handed Kjerstad worked a six-pitch at-bat, but Skenes rallied from a 2-0 count with the 102-mph heater. Skenes followed with an 88-mph slider and 87-mph changeup — a pitch he couldn’t throw last year at LSU because it was bat-speed for college hitters — before Kjerstad connected for a flyout to left fielder Canaan Smith-Njigba.

“I thought the fastball was sharp,” Davis said. “Super small sample, but I mean, 102 and a young kid that clearly cares a lot and is going to get a lot better.”

Skenes cares enough to note that, for as much fun he finds in blowing his heater past hitters, he loves the art of pitching. Skenes is looking forward to showing what he can do deeper into games, and getting a taste of facing major-league hitters only whet his appetite for more.

“Of all the things about Paul that makes me excited, that’s probably the most as a baseball player,” Davis said. “(It’s) indicative to future success in Pittsburgh.”