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Paul Skenes notches first major league strikeout on 101 mph fastball

Wade-Peeryby: Wade Peery05/11/24
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(Photo: USA Today)

Former LSU star pitcher Paul Skenes finally got the call up to the major leagues on Saturday to perform for the Pittsburgh Pirates. And he didn’t disappoint. He checked in with some serious smoke from the jump, striking out his first batter on a fastball that was clocked at 101 miles per hour.

The former top overall pick in the draft threw 10 fastballs in the first inning alone, with the slowest clocking in at 99.8 miles per hour.

With his first four batters, Skenes struck out the second batter with an offspeed pitch. He walked the third batter he faced, and then forced the fourth batter to hit a long fly ball that was caught by the Pirates outfielders.

Skenes, who was the No. 1 overall MLB Draft pick in 2023, has thoroughly impressed in the minor leagues. He threw for three different teams in 2023 and put together a 5.40 ERA after making five starts. However, he would significantly improve in 2024 as he got more comfortable.

The talented flamethrower has played in 12 games for the Pirates in the minor leagues, allowing a batting average of .179, with an ERA of 1.85, while throwing 55 strikeouts. Those impressive numbers got him the call-up from the franchise.

That got him the call-up from the Pirates.

There is a whole lot of potential for the former LSU standout, who spent just one year with the Tigers after transferring in from Air Force. But what a year it was.

LSU captured a national championship with Paul Skenes as the ace on the staff, and he was every bit the part of an arm that could carry you to a championship.

Skenes was named the 2023 Dick Howser Trophy winner, the National Player of the Year by D1Baseball and Collegiate Baseball, a consensus first-team All-American and the College World Series Most Outstanding Player.

That came after he was a first-team All-American in both of his two years at Air Force.

In his college career, Paul Skenes went 24-6 as a starter and had a 2.18 ERA. He even saved 11 games, doing so as a freshman at Air Force. He struck out 335 batters in 235.0 innings pitched, while walking only 59.

Astoundingly, Skenes gave up only 14 home runs in his college pitching career, a remarkable feat.

On3’s Thomas Goldkamp also contributed to this article.