Paul Skenes reveals pregame meal before every pitching start

Pittsburgh Pirates rookie Paul Skenes revealed his pregame meal before every start on Tuesday’s edition of The Pat McAfee Show.

Skenes made his debut for the Pirates Saturday and threw four innings, allowing six hits, three earned runs, seven strikeouts, and two walks. Pittsburgh ended up winning the game 10-9 over the Chicago Cubs.

But as far as his superstition is concerned, it looks like the clubhouse might need to provide chicken alfredo for Skenes.

“Chicken alfredo before every start,” Skenes said. “I got some crap from some of the guys before my last one because I just had this ginormous plate of chicken alfredo a couple hours before I was gonna pitch. And you know, they’re basically telling me they wouldn’t even make it out to pitch. 

“They’ll just be sitting on the toilet before their outing, but that’s just what I do every outing and it helps me keep my energy.”

In seven minor league starts this year before the call up, Skenes put up a 0.99 ERA. Just absurd stuff from the former LSU Tiger.

“It’s the command,” ESPN’s Buster Olney said ahead of Skenes’ debut. “Look in baseball, in 2024, you see a lot of guys who throw 100 miles per hour. Skenes throws 100, 101, 102 miles per hour, but it’s the command. his ability to control all the pitches. The fastball at the top of the zone, dotting it on the inside corner, the outside corner, plus he’s got the nasty breaking ball. Plus he’s got the changeup, he just seems to physically overwhelm hitters. 6-foot-6, just overpowering the guys at the plate.”

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 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 D1 Baseball 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.