Paul Skenes showed one of his Pittsburgh Pirates teammates why it’s much better to be on his team than to be against him.
Pitchers and catchers began reporting to spring training last week, and Skenes got in some work on Saturday throwing some live batting practice against hitters. One of his Pirates teammates, Adam Frazier, decided he wanted to see how he would do against Skenes and stepped in to face the reigning NL Rookie of the Year.
The third pitch from Skenes to Frazier was so unfair. From the view behind home plate, you can see just how much the pitch moved. It started off going towards the middle of the plate and then just tailed away rapidly, like an inverse slider.
Getting that amount of run on your pitch is crazy, especially when you regularly throw 100 mph like Skenes.
You can see the full video from Frazier facing Skenes in the bottom part of that X post. Frazier worked the count full in his at-bat. He also gave a cool quote about why he wanted to take on the Pirates ace.
“I didn’t have to. I kind of wanted to. … Get in there and see what it’s like. It’s facing one of the premier arms in the game. That’s what you want, not just in practice but in games. He’s going to bring out the best of everyone,” Frazier said, via Pirates reporter Kevin Gorman.
Skenes, 22, was the No. 1 overall pick by the Pirates in the 2023 draft. He made his MLB debut last season and went 11-3 with a 1.96 ERA and 170 strikeouts in 133 innings. Despite only having limited pitching opportunities since he began the season in the minor leagues, Skenes still finished third in NL Cy Young Award voting. He finished behind Chris Sale and Zack Wheeler.
With a full season ahead of him, Skenes is expected to contend for the Cy Young Award, if not win it. He’s got some nasty stuff as Frazier found out first-hand. And what’s scarier is that Skenes is working on some new pitches too.
What’s the message to opposing hitters? Good luck.
