Few prospects have burst onto the MLB scene the way Paul Skenes has. The first overall pick in the 2023 draft is lighting up his first spring training with the Pittsburgh Pirates and is quickly becoming a fan favorite across the league.
Not long ago though, the 21-year-old was a baseball fan looking up to some of the same stars he'll be pitching against soon on MLB mounds. After his latest start on Thursday, Skenes spoke about the importance of acknowledging fans as he gets acclimated to MLB stardom.
“It's cool because we were all of them,” Skenes said, per Minor League Baseball's X account. “I went to the Arizona Fall League when I was 11 and got an autograph from (Mike) Trout and (Bryce) Harper. And it was awesome. It's so cool to be in their presence and get something from them, be able to take it home and say ‘I saw him compete'.”
This particular generation of players seems to get it when it comes to player-fan interactions. It is by no means an obligation for a player to sign autographs and mingle with the fans, but taking that small part out of a day to acknowledge a fan's presence can be a life-changing moment.
Skenes was a star in college and signed plenty of autographs during the 2023 season at LSU. He's not a stranger to the limelight, but it's nice to see Skenes taking time for the Pirates fanbase that hasn’t had much to cheer about lately.
Pirates future looking bright
Skenes leads a crop of young talent that will try to get the Pirates back into MLB relevance. It's been nearly a decade since Pittsburgh last made the playoffs in 2015. The Pirates have one winning season since then and haven’t won a playoff series since winning the 1979 World Series.
Pittsburgh has five top-100 prospects to start the season with Skenes at the top of the list as the third overall prospect in the MLB. Skenes thinks the Pirates will surprise people with the amount of talent the organization has to develop.
“We’re gonna be good for a while,” Skenes said, per Jason Mackey. “The first wave of guys that are gonna go up, they’re gonna be really good. Then we have a stockpile of guys who are gonna come up. I don’t think people realize how good we are. I don’t think we realize how good we are.”
The Pirates flashed a little bit of that talent last season, their best since 2018. Pittsburgh jumped out to a roaring start in 2023, entering May with a 20-9 record. They remained in the hunt through June and were in first place in the NL Central as late as June 15.
An eight-win July took them out of contention for good, but having that good month and being in the hunt toward the All-Star break could pay dividends for Pittsburgh's young core moving forward.
Not everyone is up yet that will likely be on the Pirates' next postseason roster but the future stars of Pittsburgh's ballclub are already making names for themselves at every level of the sport. Paul Skenes will begin the season in the minors, but don’t be shocked if the Pirates give him a shot in the big leagues before the end of the season.
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