Domination. That’s the word that comes to mind when thinking about Paul Skenes’ 2nd ever MLB start against the Chicago Cubs. 6 innings of NO HIT, 11 strikeout baseball in your second career start. Pretty unbelievable stuff. We’ve known that he’s shown the ability to overmatch minor league hitters, but I feel that many were skeptical about his ability to come in and SHOVE right off the bat against the best hitters in the sport. Any doubters out there were silenced after this absolute gem. So, Paul Skenes has officially arrived. The question is, what is the phenom pitchers ceiling?
Starting short term ceiling, and the moving into longterm, beginning in this, his rookie year. Obviously, he’s in the mix for rookie of the year. Favorites currently include Cubs rookie pitcher Shota Imanaga, and Dodgers rookie pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Skenes has some catching up to do here, especially against Imanaga, who has been DOMINATE to begin his career on the mound.
So for Skenes, rookie of the year is possible, although he’s at a disadvantage given his month late start. And what about for the Pirates as a team? Can Skenes lead them to a wild card birth? It’s possible. As of the making of THIS video, the Pirates are two TWO games out of a wild card spot, and if you get into a best of 3 series with Paul Skenes on the mound in game 1, I’d have to think they’d like their chances with that. I feel that THIS years ceiling for Paul Skenes is rookie of the year, and leading the Pirates into the divisional round of the playoffs.
But what about longterm? 5,6, 7 years down the road? The future is quite promising. Undoubtedly, if Paul Skenes can stay healthy, he’s a threat to win the NL Cy Young any year. There’s been a lot of comparisons drawn between Skenes and former Nationals ace Stephen Strasburg, who was another young gun who could throw 100mph. We all know how that ended up; 9 years after his debut, he was named 2019 world series MVP. I feel we could see something similar here with Skenes. Obviously, the team around him is going to need to improve. But I like what the Pirates are building in Pittsburgh, and one things for sure, they have their ace of the future now at the big league level. and while you dont want to jump the gun too quickly, with his talent, if he is able to stay healthy, we ARE talking about a hall of fame level type talent here.
I’m curious, what do YOU think the ceiling is for Pirates rookie Paul Skenes? Do you think he has a shot to win NL rookie of the year, Cy Young, and lead the Pirates to the playoffs this year? How about in the years ahead? Can you see him leading a world series pitching staff? If you had a guess right now, do you think he makes the hall of fame? Let me know down in the comments, If you enjoyed this video feel free to give it a thumbs up and subscribe so you dont miss out on any future Paul Skenes updates. If you made it all the way to the end of this video, I really appreciate you. Thanks, and I’ll see you all in the next one!