Paul Skenes

Paul Skenes (born May 29, 2002, Fullerton, California, U.S.) is a star baseball pitcher for the Pittsburgh Pirates, with a fastball that exceeds 100 mph (160 km/hr) and a “splinker” pitch that befuddles hitters. In 2024 he became the fifth rookie pitcher to start an All-Star Game. At 6 feet 6 inches (1.98 meters) and 260 pounds (118 kg), he is already one of the game’s most dominating hurlers.

Early years

Skenes (rhymes with “spleens”) was born to Craig and Karen Skenes and grew up in California. His father works in the pharmaceutical industry, and his mother taught high school. He has an elder and a younger sister. His parents prioritized education, requiring him to finish his homework before he played baseball after school. “It was never the big leagues really,” Paul Skenes told ESPN in 2025. “It was ‘Be a good person, do your homework, go to church’ and all that. There’s nothing in my family that says that, yeah, this guy was born to be a big leaguer.” But by the time Skenes was seven, his parents could see his budding interest in baseball. Skenes said later that baseball was the only sport he wanted to play, and his favorite position was catcher. Skenes played at El Toro High School in Lake Forest, which is known for producing big leaguers including Nolan Arenado and Matt Chapman. When asked in his senior year by the Los Angeles Times where he saw himself in 10 years, he replied, “Either playing pro ball or flying jets.”

College stardom

After high school, Skenes followed that dual jet-and-baseball career path by attending the Air Force Academy, where he played catcher and pitcher. He was an excellent hitter, batting .410 as a freshman, while saving 11 games as the team’s closer. But he soon started getting attention from more high-profile baseball programs, and, after his sophomore year, he transferred to Louisiana State University (LSU) in the powerhouse Southeastern Conference. At that point, he began pitching exclusively. In 2023 Skenes posted a 1.69 earned run average (ERA) for LSU while striking out a whopping 209 in 122 2⁄3 innings, which vaulted him “from a fringe first-round pick to the top of draft boards,” as ESPN’s Jeff Passan wrote. Skenes, who pitches right-handed, capped that season by helping lead LSU to a College World Series title, winning the Most Outstanding Player at the series.

Turning pro

In July 2023 the Pirates made Skenes the number one overall pick in the Major League Baseball draft. “I was in shock when I heard,” he said in a video conference after the draft. “A year ago, two years ago, I never thought it was a possibility to be the first overall pick. I don’t know what I was expecting going into today, but it means a lot.” Skenes added that he thought he was close to major league-ready. “I don’t know exactly how close, but I’m going to do everything in my power to get there as soon as possible.” As it turned out, he didn’t need very long. Less than a year later, in May 2024, the Pirates called Skenes up after he dominated minor league hitters, with a 0.99 ERA and 45 strikeouts in 27 1⁄3 innings for Pittsburgh’s Triple-A team in Indianapolis. He made his debut on May 11, giving up three earned runs in four-plus innings against the Chicago Cubs. While that line wasn’t impressive, his seven strikeouts offered an indication of the greatness that was soon to come.

In his rookie season Skenes blew past batters with high-voltage fastballs and kept them off balance with a splinker, a hybrid between a splitter and a sinker. At the All-Star break that summer, Skenes was 6–0 in 11 starts with a 1.90 ERA, striking out 89 batters with just 13 walks in 66 1⁄3 innings. The National League (NL) rewarded him by having him start the All-Star Game, the first rookie pitcher to do so since Hideo Nomo in 1995. “Pretty dang cool to even be in this position, to be at the All-Star Game in the first place,” Skenes said at the time. “Just super grateful to be given the opportunity to start it.” He wound up pitching one scoreless inning, retiring Steven Kwan, Gunnar Henderson, and Aaron Judge and walking Juan Soto.

Skenes finished that 2024 season with a league-best ERA of 1.96 (for pitchers who had at least 130 innings pitched), the lowest ERA of any rookie pitcher with a minimum of 20 starts since the start of the live-ball era in 1920. Opposing hitters managed a paltry .198 batting average against him. He won the NL Rookie of the Year Award, with 23 out of 30 first-place votes. “It’s cool, and it’s an honor,” Skenes said. “I think it’s just a product of showing up each day and doing the work, and I think the results are going to take care of themselves.” He also finished third in NL Cy Young Award voting.