Tim Benz: For Paul Skenes, ‘living life hard’ has a different meaning — one he’ll need as a Pirate
Share this post:
Pittsburgh Pirates first-round draft pick Paul Skenes throws hard. He’s been known to hit 103 miles per hour. It’s part of the reason why he posted a 1.69 ERA in 122⅔ innings pitched with 209 strikeouts at LSU this season.
The 6-foot-6 right hander lives life hard too.
When I say “lives life hard,” I don’t mean in the Ozzy Osbourne snorting a line of ants off the ground in the 1980s kind of way.
Although pulling 9Gs in a F-15 fighter jet while at the Air Force Academy before his transfer to LSU may qualify.
But that’s not what Pirates general manager Ben Cherington was talking about Tuesday at the press conference to announce Skenes’ decision to sign with the Pirates.
He means that Skenes lives life hard in a very different way.
“He is not only a person who meets challenges but pursues the hardest challenges. He does not wait for the challenges to meet him, he finds them wherever they are,” Cherington said. “He could have taken much easier paths (than) going from high school to the Air Force Academy. He chose a hard path. He could have chosen much easier paths than transferring into the SEC for his draft year. He chose a hard path, and he certainly met that and exceeded any expectation along the way.”
That’s an important quality for any athlete to have. Particularly one who is about to embark on a career with the Pirates — a franchise that hasn’t won a division title since 1992.
“Love what you do and do it very well,” Skenes said of his life decisions. “That’s been the thing that has been an emphasis point as I’ve started to make my own decisions with where to go to college and deciding stuff on my future. Everyday I try to wake up and see what I’m made of — trying to get better every day.”
Those admirable traits will be put to the test in a big way now that Skenes has signed with the Pirates. Since 2000, some of the club’s first-round picks have been part of team success, such as Gerrit Cole, Andrew McCutchen, Pedro Alvarez and Neil Walker.
More sports
• First Call: Biggest potholes for Erik Karlsson trade for Penguins, Hurricanes; Kevin Colbert’s thoughts on Kenny Pickett
• ‘We’re trying to get better’: Pirates GM says call-ups sending message to struggling team
• Pirates sign No. 1 overall pick Paul Skenes to record bonus of $9.2M
Others like Daniel Moskos, Bryan Bullington, Mark Appel, John Van Benschoten, Will Craig and Travis Swaggerty never sniffed the postseason in Pittsburgh or attained the level of professional acclaim that their draft status suggested they would.
Skenes has to do both for this signing to be viewed as a hit. After all, not only was he the first pick overall in this month’s draft, but he also was selected in a year where at least three or four other players (Dylan Crews, Max Clark, Wyatt Langford and Walker Jenkins) were viewed as worthy of being a No.1 overall selection.
To his credit, Skenes wanted the challenge, whereas some like Appel, reportedly Crews and maybe others in the PNC Park era, either wanted no part of being a Pirate or demanded to be bought into having to make that commitment.
Skenes claims as the draft drew close, he relished the chance to make it in Pittsburgh. He worked out a deal quickly to sign with the franchise and even did so for about $500,000 less than slot price.
The Pirates could’ve taken Crews and just paid him into acceptance. But Skenes was willing to come for a bit less in a year where just about every MLB draft expert said he was completely worthy of going 1-1 in a talent-rich class. Even over Crews, his LSU teammate that won the Golden Spikes award.
“It’s a big opportunity. Going 1-1 is extremely humbling,” Skenes said. “I’m excited to have the opportunity to be around these individuals. I’m also excited to have the opportunity to build (the Pirates legacy) back up and go to another World Series. That’s the goal. And it starts (Wednesday).”
It’s a goal that has been chased since 1979.
Skenes appears to have the arm, the stuff and the mentality to be a cornerstone for the franchise to build around in order to get there. But he can’t do it alone, and he can’t be another cautionary tale of what can become of a wildly talented player who just can’t blossom into what he was expected to be once he gets into the Pirates system.
Thriving in Pittsburgh as a baseball prospect has to proven to be — in a word — hard. Skenes leveraging to put himself on the road to being here may be a sign that he’s in the McCutchen, Alvarez, Walker, Cole class that can handle it.
Or maybe it’d just easier to pull 9Gs again.