LSU Baseball Alum Paul Skenes impressive in MLB Debut

While morning rain in Pittsburgh nearly derailed a ceremonial day for the Pirates the sunshine prevailed allowing for Paul Skenes' Major League Debut. After tearing up AAA for nearly a month, the Pirates finally elevated Skenes to the Major league level where he looked the part.

He'd make his mark in the first at-bat of the game striking out Mike Tauchman for his first major league strikeout. Skenes would finish the day pitching 4.0 innings, allowing six hits, three earned runs, and two walks while striking out seven. Two of the three runs were walked in after Skenes left the ball game as the relief pitcher struggled to find the zone costing Skenes what was a solid outing.

At times, you could tell that Skenes may have been a little nervous as he didn't have full command of his pitches. Towards the end of his outing, Skenes had full command of his fastball and splitter which proved to be devastating.

The LSU Alumni is supporting a great cause as he's donating $100 for each strikeout he records to the Gary Sinise Foundation supporting veterans and first responders.

The Pittsburgh Pirates fans now have something to be excited about with the dynamic duo of rookie pitchers in Jared Jones and Paul Skenes. The team has an exciting young core for the years to come with Skenes, Jones, Oneil Cruz, Henry Davis, and several other young pieces.

What to watch for next with Skenes

Paul Skenes will likely make his next start against this same Cubs team in Chicago giving him a solid way to measure his growth. When Skenes got ahead against batters today he was dominant especially when throwing the fastball while he struggled to find his other pitches at times. Now that Skenes' MLB Debut and the jitters associated with it are out of the way it'll be exciting to see what he looks like fully settled in.