MLB Prospects Rumors: Cubs star walkoff, Jackson Holliday’s brother, nasty Paul Skenes

Paul Skenes shows nasty stuff, dominates in Single-A debut

The hype surrounding Paul Skenes over the last few months has been incredible. He’s been tabbed as one of the best draft prospects in recent memory, with strong comparisons to Stephen Strasburg, who came out of the draft as one of the best prospects ever. On the updated version of MLB Pipeline’s top-100 prospects, Skenes debuts as the third-best prospect in the game. This is some seriously high praise, especially considering that some players ranked below him have extensive successful track records.

This hype built from the moment that Pittsburgh selected him and hasn’t been as high as it is right now. On Tuesday night, Skenes made his Single-A debut, a level that many thought Skenes could bypass, and he showed off some nasty stuff in his sole inning of work.

The flamethrower featured his patented heater, which sat anywhere from 95 to 100 MPH on the day. A few of the pitches had serious sink to them. To pair with that, he threw his slider in the mid to high 80s. A few of the sliders were marked as cutters, with potential that he was flashing a new pitch. Either way, Skenes was nasty and the one inning outings are just the beginning of his dominance as a Pirate.