Giants will get first look at potential Skenes with online series

Giants will get first look at potential Skenes with online series originally appeared in NBC Sports Bay Area

SAN FRANCISCO – Expectations for Paul Skenes are as high as they can get, but last Friday he somehow exceeded them.

In his second MLB start, Skenes struck out 11 in six hitless innings at Wrigley Field. A few days later, with the Giants packing their bags for a trip to face the Pittsburgh Pirates, manager Bob Melvin was asked if he had attended a presentation that was the talk of baseball.

“I don’t want to,” said Melvin, smiling. “I heard about it.”

On their final day at PNC Park on Thursday, the Giants will see this for themselves and will have to solve Skenes to get the series win. One of the game’s top prospects has made two starts so far, allowing three runs and striking out 18 in 10 innings. In seven Triple-A starts, he posted a 1.32 ERA with 45 strikeouts in 27 1/3 innings.

Skenes has only faced the Cubs in his two major league starts, and since he is just a year removed from pitching at LSU and did his spring training in Florida, the Giants have no experience with him. Matt Chapman went to the same school – El Toro in Southern California – but was years ahead of Skenes and said they never met. Two of the organization’s top prospects — Reggie Crawford and Carson Whisenhunt — were on the same Team USA roster in 2021, but both are still in Triple-A.

None of the current Giants have faced Skenes before, but there’s not much mystery. In his second start, Skenes relied primarily on his fastball and splitter, both of which top the charts in terms of velocity. He averaged 99.7 mph in the big leagues and hit 101.9, and his 100th and final pitch on Friday was a 100 mph fastball to strike out former Giants outfielder Mike Tauchman. Skenes’ splitter averaged about 95 mph and he gave up just one hit on the field in two starts.

“It felt good, really good,” Melvin told reporters in Pittsburgh on Wednesday. “This guy today [Jared Jones] There is also no day at the beach. There are two really good pitchers that we’ll be facing over the next two nights, and that’s something this organization should feel really good about with some of the young players, including [Oneil] Cross. There are a lot of guys here who suggest good days are ahead for the Pirates.”

Young pitchers make the Pirates dream big after very difficult years, which has been a trend for an organization that has a habit of trading stars. The Pirates lost 100 games in consecutive campaigns before going 76-86 last season, but the reward for that terrible second season was Skenes, who was an easy choice. first place overall in last year’s MLB draft.

Ten months later, he’s already at the top of the MLB rotation, and while Thursday will be a big challenge for the Giants’ hitters, Melvin said it’s the type of game they should be excited about.

“This is the kind of guy you have to embrace and support,” he said. “There’s something about being motivated for really good pitchers. That’s something everyone has to embrace.”

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