PITTSBURGH — Paul Skenes witnessed Shohei Ohtani’s first game as a local player in the United States. It was April 8, 2018, Ohtani’s second start in the Major Leagues, his first at Angel Stadium. The El Toro High School baseball team, located in Lake Forest, California, received free tickets to attend the game.
Ohtani put on a show, pitching seven innings in which he allowed just one hit and struck out a dozen batters for the Angels. It would be one of the first great days of Ohtani’s career.
“Obviously, I didn’t know exactly what the baseball world had going on at the time, but it was cool to see him compete,” Skenes said on the field at PNC Park on Tuesday.
A lot has changed since April 2018. Ohtani is a two-time American League MVP, has established himself as a true superstar and is building a legacy of his own. Skenes is the top pitching prospect of his generation, throwing 102 mph fastballs with a full repertoire of quality pitches.
If there’s one veteran and one rookie in this league that needs no introduction, it’s Ohtani and Skenes.
On Wednesday, Skenes will see Ohtani play from a whole new perspective. The rookie will take the mound for the Pirates at 6:40 pm ET, facing Ohtani and the Dodgers in the second game of the three-game series. Assuming everything goes as planned, it will be a matchup between the best young pitcher in the Majors and the hitting and pitching sensation.
“I grew up watching it,” Skenes said. “As a hitting and throwing player, that’s what I was trying to be before I got drafted. He was an inspiration in a lot of ways.”
Skenes played catcher and hitter during his high school career and his first two years of college at the Air Force Academy, but took off as a pitcher in his junior year at Louisiana State University (LSU), when he decided to stop hitting. . The rest of the league took notice of his quality as a pitcher and the Pirates chose him with the first overall pick in last year’s amateur draft.
Although Skenes has expressed that he misses hitting, it’s clear that he made the right decision by focusing exclusively on pitching. (Though he did acknowledge that he took a few swings this offseason). He has lived up to absurdly high expectations in his first four major league starts, and is already 2-0 with a 2.45 ERA in 22 innings, striking out 30 batters in the process.
“It was last year, I think, when we were watching it [lanzar] in the College World Series,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “For it to come and make itself felt so early, you just don’t see it very often.”
You also don’t see a trio like the Dodgers very often. Ohtani usually bats second, between Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman in what might be the scariest top of a batting order in sports.
Although Ohtani is only hitting this season as he recovers from right elbow surgery, he is making his case for a third MVP award exclusively with the bat, hitting .322 with 14 home runs and a .988 OPS in his first season with the Dodgers. And with other MVPs hitting in front of and behind him, there’s no way around him.
“It’s Major League Baseball,” said Pirates manager Derek Shelton. “You’re watching one of the best teams in baseball. I haven’t seen their lineup for (Wednesday), but I’m guessing you’ll have three MVPs up front and you just have to make pitches. “It’s very good for our young players to see a team of this quality, to see how you go out and execute.”
“I just have to execute,” Skenes said. “We’re going to have a good plan going in there. I simply have to execute the plan. Hopefully it works out for us.”
Maybe in the future, Skenes will have a chance to match up with Ohtani as a pitcher as well, but for now, he just has to focus on him as a hitter. The question arises: Given that he grew up idolizing him, does Skenes think Ohtani is a better hitter or pitcher?
“I don’t know,” Skenes replied, smiling. “It’s incredibly good both ways.”
