David Banks/USA TODAY Sports/REUTERS
The one with probably the most beautiful mustache since Tom Selleck: Paul Skenes
Last Friday afternoon (local time), the eyes of baseball lovers were focused on Wrigley Field in the north of Chicago. The local Cubs hosted division rivals the Pittsburgh Pirates. And they had super talent Paul Skenes on the “Pitcher’s Mound”. The 1.98 meter tall, 106 kilogram Skenes, who probably has the most beautiful schnauzer since Tom Selleck, put on a tremendous show. Back in the spring, Skenes frustrated opposing lineups in the minor leagues with his “triple digit” fastball – which regularly shoots 100 miles per hour (around 165 kilometers per hour) or faster towards hitters. For the Indianapolis Indians, a farm team of the Pirates, Skenes has thrown 27.1 innings so far this year and only allowed 17 hits – including one home run. He conceded a mere three runs, but was able to achieve 45 strikeouts.
Considering that Skenes was only selected first overall in the draft by the Pirates last June, the 21-year-old’s minor league campaign was quite mature. So on Friday, Skenes exceeded expectations with a tremendous performance for the Cubs. Skenes, who hurled the ball towards the batter with a sideways throwing motion, sent the Cubs’ first seven batters back to the bench in a row: “Seven up, seven down, seven strike outs.” Skenes didn’t hide for a second, but attacked the Cubs -Batter wherever he could with a combination of his 100 mph fastball and the roughly five mph (eight kilometers per hour) slower “Splinter,” a hybrid of a sinking fastball and a split-finger fastball.
For the first two-thirds or so of her journey from the pitching mound to home plate, Skenes’ splinker mimicked the fastball almost perfectly. But while the fastball traveled an average of 38 centimeters to the right-hander’s throwing hand and lost only a little height, the splinker only traveled 18 centimeters to the throwing hand, but dropped a whopping 76 centimeters, as if out of nowhere. The splinker is something like a warm invitation to the batsmen to just hit past the ball, which is what they do, according to the statistics portal baseballsavant.mlb.com with a rate of 48 percent – a top value for the “whiffs”. Skenes’ throwing arsenal was completed by curveball, slider and change-up, three classic throws that ranged between 80 and 90 miles per hour (around 129 to 144 kilometers per hour) and, in combination with fastball and splinker, put the hitter’s timing to the test.
Skenes left the field Friday after six innings and 100 pitches, racking up 11 strikeouts, not allowing a hit and allowing just two batters to walk to first base. Skenes racked up 22 whiffs, threw a dozen fastballs at 100 miles per hour or faster, and allowed only one hitter to make hard contact. Pirates catcher Yasmani Grandal, a veteran warhorse at the backstop position, said after the game MLB.com: “I don’t know what else we can ask for.” Pirates manager Derek Shelton was more than satisfied: “The first three innings were as good as it gets.” Shelton was particularly impressed by the seven strikeouts against impressed the first nine hitters. You don’t usually see things like that. And indeed Skenes was loud MLB.com the first Pirates pitcher in the modern era of baseball, dating back to 1900, with seven strikeouts against the first nine hitters.
2024-05-21 17:51:12
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