First Call: Potential Pirates draft pick wants to hit and pitch; J.J. Watt on why he didn’t sign with Steelers
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Our Fourth of July edition of “First Call” features J.J. Watt’s account of considering the Steelers as a free-agent destination a few years ago. We look at the Penguins’ latest player acquisition.
If Paul Skenes becomes a Pirate, he wants to do more than pitch. And Ronald Acuña Jr. is having a season for the ages in Atlanta.
Skenes’ scheme
For quite a while, there has been a debate over who the Pirates should take with the top choice in next week’s Major League Baseball draft.
Should it be a hitter, in Louisiana State outfielder Dylan Crews, the 2023 Golden Spikes winner? Or a pitcher in his Tigers teammate Paul Skenes, who was the College World Series Most Outstanding Player?
Well, how about a hitter and a pitcher?
Skenes is now saying he’d like to be considered as both by whatever team decides to draft him. The right-handed flamethrower made that proclamation during the KayRod Cast on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball recently.
“I didn’t hit this past year, but I’ve hit. I was actually a primary hitter coming into college and then I just started pitching my senior year of high school and it kind of blossomed into what it is now,” Skenes said. “I’ve hit my whole life and obviously started pitching the last few years. I’ve done both for the past few years and want to continue to do both as long as I can.”
Paul Skenes sees pitching AND hitting in his future pic.twitter.com/F6Hf9M85a0
— SEC Network (@SECNetwork) July 3, 2023
Skenes said he came up as a catcher and a pitcher. Before transferring to LSU from Air Force, he was given the John Olerud Award as the best two-way player in the country in 2022. He had a .367 batting average with 24 home runs and a 1.087 OPS with the Falcons.
On the mound, Skenes went 12-2 with 209 strikeouts and a 1.69 earned run average this year for LSU.
Related:
• Tim Benz: Kyle Dubas getting lots of benefit of the doubt points following Tristan Jarry signing
• Mike Tomlin reveals what he believes to have been his most challenging season as Steelers coach
‘Watt’ could’ve been
Here’s a recent Steelers nugget mined by Steelers Depot.
Former NFL Defensive Player of the Year J.J. Watt appeared on the “Green Light” podcast with former NFL players Kyle and Chris Long. Watt was asked which teams he considered signing with prior to the 2021 season before he ultimately chose the Arizona Cardinals.
Specifically, Chris Long asked Watt if the Steelers were “on the list” so he could’ve been teammates with his brothers Derek and T.J.
“They were,” Watt replied. “Certainly it would have been awesome to play with my brothers. But T.J. was also going through the contract situation there. The last thing I was going to do was come in and take money from his contract.”
Would J.J. have really soaked money away from T.J.’s contract? Or would the Steelers have found it from somewhere else if they had brought him to Pittsburgh?
It’s probably more the latter. But J.J. joked he never would’ve signed for the league minimum to play with his brothers because he didn’t “love them that much.”
T.J. Watt ended up signing his contract for $112 million and becoming Defensive Player of the Year himself. J.J. Watt went to the Cardinals and only played in seven games before getting hurt. He retired after the 2022 campaign, collecting 12.5 sacks that year.
Bringing Butcher on board
When Hobey Baker winner Will Butcher signed with the New Jersey Devils coming out of the University of Denver in 2017, the Penguins were on the fringes of the conversation. Now he has signed with the Pens in free agency this summer.
Maybe some of the appeal for the Penguins is what Butcher did against Pittsburgh during his time with the Devils, and, most recently, the Buffalo Sabres.
In 15 games versus the Pens, Butcher has tallied two goals and seven assists. Those nine points are the most he has against any team over his five-year career. In all, Butcher has 16 goals and 98 assists in the NHL over 275 games.
Butcher’s deal is a one-year, two-way contract that carries a salary cap hit of $775,000.
Runnin’ Ronald
Since the Pirates only got one All-Star onto the National League roster, there has been some grumbling that the Atlanta Braves got eight.
There can’t be any complaining about Ronald Acuña Jr., though. He is having an amazing season. So far Acuña has a .335 batting average, 21 home runs, 40 steals, 54 RBIs and an OPS of 1.012.
During Atlanta’s 4-2 win over the Cleveland Guardians Monday, Acuña picked up his 40th steal. That made him the first player in history to record 40-plus stolen bases, hit 20-plus homers, and record 50-plus RBIs before the All-Star break. Via MLB.com, he is also the first player to ever hit at least 20 homers, steal at least 40 bases and drive in at least 50 runs through his team’s first 84 games of the season.
The Braves have won nine games in a row. They have MLB’s best record at 57-27.