Pittsburgh Pirates Top Prospect Paul Skenes Struggles in Double-A Debut

No. 1 overall draft pick Paul Skenes didn't make it out of the first inning in his Double-A debut for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

After being drafted No. 1 overall by the Pittsburgh Pirates this past July, Paul Skenes struggled on Saturday in his debut for Double-A Altoona.

He didn't make it out of the first inning against Akron, going 0.2 innings, surrendering four earned runs on three hits. He walked two but did strike out two, including getting a strikeout at 100 mph.

Paul Skenes Double-A debut:

0.2 IP, 3 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 2 SO pic.twitter.com/oFSaMh6sfl

— Milb Central (@milb_central) August 26, 2023

Despite the struggle, Skenes is the most exciting Pirates pitching prospect since Gerrit Cole.

He's coming off an incredible collegiate season in which he led LSU to the College World Series title. 

He went 12-2 this year with 209 strikeouts in 122.2 innings.

He had an ERA of 1.69 and is the single-season strikeout leader for the SEC.

He's the Pirates top prospect and the No. 3 prospect in all of baseball, per MLB Pipeline.

The following comes from a portion of his MLB.com profile:

But he's also the best college pitching prospect since Stephen Strasburg in 2009, so he didn’t pick up a bat all spring. He won Southeastern Conference pitcher of the year honors, led NCAA Division I in strikeouts (209, breaking Ben McDonald's school and SEC record), strikeouts per nine innings (15.3) and WHIP (0.75) and ranked second in wins (12), ERA (1.69) and opponents' average (.165). All of that led to him being taken with the No. 1 overall pick by the Pirates, who set a Draft record by giving him a $9.2 million bonus.

After working at 93-95 mph and touching 99 with his fastball as a sophomore, Skenes averaged 98 mph and hit 102 at LSU, with the flat approach angle and carry on his heater making it almost impossible to hit. 

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