Pittsburgh Pirates Eyes $120 million Midfielder Signing – Derek Shelton pursuit of top-tier talent continues…
Just a few months ago, Paul Skenes was intently watching Chris Sale pitch against his teammates in a mere Grapefruit League exhibition, trying to pick up anything he could from a pitcher of his caliber.
Fast forward to Tuesday night, and Skenes was sharing the same dugout with Sale, both representing a National League squad that fell to the American League, 5-3, in the 94th annual MLB All-Star Game.
“That was cool for me,” Skenes said after the game. “Now being able to share a dugout with him was really cool.”
Skenes didn’t only share the dugout with him. Despite having just 11 big-league starts under his belt, Skenes earned the right to start for the NL, though hurlers such as Sale were probably traditionally more deserving.
But Skenes has done nothing but take the game of baseball by storm ever since his Major-League debut on May 11. Not only would his 1.90 ERA and 0.92 WHIP rank among the game’s best if he had enough innings, he also became the first pitcher in the Pirates’ history since 1900 to strikeout the first seven batters of a game, the first pitcher in MLB history to record seven or more strikeouts within a player’s first 11 career games and, perhaps the most impressive of all, the first player in Major-League history to be selected first overall and make the All-Star team the following season.
The pressure has been building for Skenes, especially when Torey Lovullo made the choice to hand the ball to Skenes before any other NL All-Star pitcher. But, to reinforce what Bryan Reynolds told me Monday, Skenes never seemed in over his head. He went out there and did exactly what he’s done all season while donning the much better looking black and gold of Pittsburgh.
