For so long, he was just throwing. Throwing as hard as he could. There was no plan for this tall, lanky kid from Orange County to become this great pitcher. There was no mechanical work. Paul Skenes just knew he could throw a baseball hard, so he did.
And he could throw it, make no mistake. This catcher at El Toro High was getting his chance to pitch, launching fastballs that reached 92 mph by his senior year to the backup catchers unprepared to field them. Skenes wanted to be a fighter pilot, so he chose to play ball at the Air Force Academy. But again, he was the catcher first. The team needed a closer, though, and he threw hard. So that worked out for a bit. Then he convinced the coach to let him start games on the mound during his sophomore year. So, that happened too.
Yet this 6-foot-6 Air Force transfer — now an LSU Tiger — throwing 100 mph with a 1.89 ERA very well may be the first pitcher selected in July’s MLB Draft. On paper, it’s difficult to make sense of it. Then you watch him pitch and you understand.
“A lot of it has kind of just happened,” Skenes said. “I worked really hard to do it, but a lot of things have gone right for me.”
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(Photo: Dylan Widger / USA Today)
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