ARLINGTON, Texas — The first thing Paul Skanes told the Pirates after signing was that he wasn’t good enough.
At least, not yet.
It was late July 2023, and the current No. 1 overall pick in the draft — coming off one of the greatest pitching seasons in college baseball history — was in Bradenton, Florida, for an intake meeting with his new employer. Skanes, director of player development John Baker and pitching coordinator Josh Hopper settled into Hopper’s office at the Pirates’ spring training complex.
Even Scans’ most optimistic outlook could not have predicted this future. A year later, the 6-foot-6 hurler is set to start the All-Star game for the National League on Tuesday. He was the first player to make the All-Star team a year after being drafted first overall.
Those honors are well-deserved: Scans has taken MLB by storm, dominating hitters to the tune of a 1.90 ERA in his first 11 starts, capturing whiffs, fanfare and eyeballs along the way.
But the path to professional stardom first wove through Florida’s Gulf Coast, where three men came together to chart a developmental path. The goal of their meeting was self-evident: figure out how to guide the most attractive pitching prospect of the past decade to major league dominance. Baker and Hopper came prepared with a set of recommendations, but asked the scans to self-evaluate before sharing them.
“Without looking at our list, he listed [our recommendations] Baker told Yahoo Sports that he has a similar meeting with every player who joins Pittsburgh’s minor-league organization. “The things he thought about himself. It’s the only time I’ve ever been in a situation like that with a rookie.
“And his list was more extensive than ours, and it was self-deprecating.”
One of the main items on Skeens’ agenda is adding a consistent third pitch that will help him neutralize left-handed hitters better. He torched all batters in his junior year at LSU — posting a 1.69 ERA in 122 2/3 IP with 209 strikeouts and a .449 OPS — but did so while relying almost exclusively on a two-pitch, fastball-slider combo. The mustachioed flamethrower has occasionally demonstrated a quality shift, but he told Baker and Hopper he wanted something different, something better, something that could fool the best hitters on the planet.
So Scans got to work on what would eventually become the “Sprinkler,” a unicorn offering a sinker’s speed and a splitter’s vertical depth. It was a whiff-snatching, grounder-inducing cheat code that helped fast-track the Skeens to superstardom.
The development of such a useful pitch in such a short period of time speaks volumes for what makes Scans unique. Only someone with a rare combination of athleticism, competitive intensity, work ethic and intellectual humility can learn and capitalize on such an opportunity.
Scans created Splinter, and in turn, Splinter created Scans.
When Skanes played with the pitch during his brief, five-start pro debut last summer, Pirates officials didn’t see the pitch in person until late last winter.
Skanes spent part of last season at the University of Georgia with Bulldogs head coach Wes Johnson, sources told Yahoo Sports. Johnson, one of the most respected minds in the pitching world, was Skeens’ pitching coach at LSU and was instrumental in developing the Air Force transfer into one of the best pitching prospects in MLB history.
Late last season, Hopper and Pirates pitching coach Oscar Marin traveled to Athens, Georgia, to see the pitch in person. Their report was borderline unbelievable.
“I remember hearing about it … that he was throwing a negative 95-96 [vertical movement],” Baker told Yahoo Sports. “No one has ever seen it before.
“It’s one of those situations where if I hear about another player, I have to go, ‘Yeah, right.’ But you ask about it. [Skenes], and you’re like, ‘Yeah, that might be true.’ We’ll have to see when he gets to spring training.
Pirates catcher Henry Davis also saw early glimpses of the pitch during the offseason.
“It was more vertical than changeup at times and more depth-y,” Davis told Yahoo Sports. “But it’s when he’s throwing it closer to 92-ish, like 92-94. He hasn’t fully stepped up and seen how that complements the arsenal.
Assistant director of pitching Jeremy Bleich said: “The biggest thing was he had a vision of what it was going to be. Our staff helped guide him the last 5 yards.
The finished product is a pitch unlike any other: An offering with enough vertical movement that Statcast classifies it as a splitter. However it averages 94.1 mph and has topped 97 on several occasions. Ratio-wise, the pitch — which Skenes notes is a sinker — has already become the most effective offering in MLB this season, According to Statcast’s Run Value metric.
“It’s crazy … some of the best things I’ve ever seen, obviously,” Davis said. “He’s been a full-time pitcher for, what, two years?”
In fact, Skanes played his final game at the Air Force Academy just two years ago before transferring to LSU. That contest featured Scans’ catch and batting cleanup for the Falcons in a regional playoff game against the University of Texas.
Once Skanes arrived in Baton Rouge, it became apparent very quickly that his future lay on the mound. As soon as the swaggering hurler began competing in fall scrimmages, his new teammates began to understand the person and player who had joined their program.
Two of Skenes’ former LSU teammates — Nationals outfielder Dylann Cruz and Rays first baseman Trey Morgan — are top prospects in the minor leagues this weekend in Arlington, Texas, to participate in this year’s Futures Game. In an interview with Yahoo Sports, Not expressing any surprise About Scans’ lightning-quick path to big-league stardom.
“When I was in college with him, I thought at the time he was a big-leaguer starting for a big-league team,” said Cruz, the No. 2 pick in last year’s draft. “He’s a special talent.”
Even so, Morgan marveled at how seamlessly Skeens’ dominance translated to the highest level. “It’s awesome to see him do what he did in college — really the same thing — against the best hitters in the world,” he said.
But Skanes is no longer the same pitcher he was a year ago. Splinger has refined his combination and made him a formidable force against lefties, for whom he sought another answer, but also against right-handers. He didn’t have that last season when he was carving up college players. It has changed.
Again, the essence of Skanes — the determination, the fastball, the slider, the energy on the mound like a contented Rottweiler enjoying chewing up opponents — is unshakable.
Beyond that, inquisitive intent and constructive self-criticism are a big part of what makes Scans generational. It would have been easy and understandable for him to rest on his laurels and cling to the pitching combination that propelled him to outrageous heights in college. Many pitchers, bowlers, and people in general need to experience failure first to admit that change is necessary.
Not scans.
“He wants to be — no [just] Great,” said Bleich. “He wants to be the best.”
The present and future of the Pittsburgh Pirates changed before he needed it, before his employers had a chance to tell him. His willingness to evolve — and the uncanny physicality to create a brilliant new pitch — enabled his rapid ascent and historic first 11 major league starts.
“He could have struck out major league hitters with just a fastball-slider,” Baker said.
“But I didn’t know he was an All-Star.”
