Pirates' promotion of Paul Skenes evokes memories of Stephen Strasburg's debut

When searching for comparisons to Paul Skenes and his 10-month path from being selected with the No. 1 overall pick to making his first start in the major leagues, one name rings most prominent.

Where the Pittsburgh Pirates are pumped for the first MLB start by Skenes against the Chicago Cubs on Saturday at PNC Park, they were on the receiving end of Stephen Strasburg’s dominant debut almost 14 years ago.

Strasburg was a hard-throwing right-hander whose triple-digit fastball at San Diego State captured baseball’s attention and made him the obvious No. 1 pick in 2009, long before Skenes did the same in leading LSU to the College World Series championship and becoming the first overall pick by the Pirates last year.

“I don’t think there’s been an anticipation for a pitching debut like this in all of major-league baseball like this since Strasburg,” said Jonathan Mayo of MLB Pipeline. “I can’t think of one — and there’s been some very good pitching prospects, but not in terms of the No. 1 pick storyline. Strasburg had more hype because he was so clearly the No. 1 pick heading into the draft. It wasn’t clear that Skenes was the guy — he was the pitcher — but what he’s done since and how he’s dominated at the high levels is very similar, in terms of the anticipation. That’s not just a Pittsburgh thing. This is the most anticipated pitching debut of any player since Stephen Strasburg.”

????Instant Reaction????@spillygoat19 and Justin Morneau react to the Paul Skenes promotion.

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‘We’re going to crush this guy’

As the Pirates prepare for the hype surrounding Skenes, it brought back memories for some in the organization of facing Strasburg and the Washington Nationals on June 8, 2010, in Washington, D.C. The game, billed as “Strasmas,” drew a sellout crowd of 40,315 to Nationals Park, which was averaging 21,560.

“It was probably the most hyped game I could ever remember for a debut,” Pirates broadcaster John Wehner said. “You’re thinking, ‘This guy’s going to be better than anybody we’ve ever seen.’

“Obviously, he was a huge prospect and it didn’t take him long to get to the big leagues. That was a big deal. Who only pitches two months in the minor leagues and gets to the big leagues? They did a national broadcast with Bob Costas doing the game (on MLB Network). That’s how big of a deal it was.”

14 strikeouts in one of the most anticipated debuts in @MLB history! Looking back on Stephen Strasburg's historic first start.#MLBN15 | @Nationals | @Budweiserpic.twitter.com/AmHFcDfd52

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Andrew McCutchen, who was the leadoff batter for the Pirates, recalls Colorado Rockies righty Ubaldo Jimenez being the only starting pitcher in the majors whose fastball touched triple digits consistently. McCutchen knew more about Strasburg’s reputation than his stuff.

“Obviously, the hype of him coming up, being a starter that throws 100 mph, at that time it was pretty much unheard of,” said McCutchen, now a 37-year-old designated hitter for the Pirates. “We didn’t have much video, like we do now, so we didn’t really get to see what he can do. … So you’re going up there like, ‘I’m going to see what this looks like.’”

McCutchen was disappointed when Strasburg’s first two pitches were 97.2-mph four-seamers well outside the strike zone. When McCutchen connected on the third offering, clocked at 97.8, for a line drive to shortstop Ian Desmond, he returned to the visiting dugout with a cocksure confidence that the rookie was rattled.

“I remember coming in like, ‘We’re going to crush this guy,’” McCutchen said.

Strasburg got Neil Walker to ground out to second before recording his first career strikeout, getting Lastings Milledge swinging at three pitches, the last two curveballs. After Ryan Zimmerman homered to give Strasburg a 1-0 cushion, he struck out Garrett Jones and Delwyn Young in the second before giving up his first hit, a single to Andy LaRoche.

“As major-league hitters, when you haven’t seen a guy, you have to get that calibration down,” said Walker, the former Pirates second baseman who is now a broadcaster. “We knew there was upper-90s velocity on the fastball, we knew there was a hammer breaking ball. For the most part, we were hoping for maybe mistakes that first time through the order because you knew that he was going to be amped up, that his fastball was going to have a lot of life and that he had a putaway breaking ball.”

Strasburg had six strikeouts through three innings, before Walker and Milledge hit back-to-back singles to start the fourth. Jones grounded into a double play that forced Milledge out at second. When Young hit a 1-0 changeup for a two-run home run, the Pirates took a 2-1 lead.

“It was everything you expected as far as a big, huge, dominating guy,” Wehner said. “When Delwyn Young hit the homer, it was like, ‘Holy smokes!’ Because (Strasburg) seemed invincible at that point, like nobody was going to hit him. As everybody knows, all of these guys will get hit eventually.”

McCutchen said the Pirates’ mentality switched after Young’s homer, even though Strasburg’s fastball had been clocked at 100.1 mph in the second inning and was touching 99 with regularity.

“It went from this hype of ‘who is this guy’ to ‘we don’t care who this guy is, we’re going to get him’ to ‘yeah, we’re celebrating (2-1) and this guy isn’t going to do anything against us,’” McCutchen said. “Then he just shut us out for the rest of the game.”

Strasburg didn’t allow another baserunner, retiring the final 10 batters he faced, including eight by strikeouts. Strasburg struck out the side in the sixth and seventh innings on his way to recording a Nationals-record 14 strikeouts without a walk while throwing 65 of his 94 pitches for strikes over seven innings in the Nationals’ 5-2 win.

Only J.R. Richard of the Houston Astros and Karl Spooner of the Brookyln Dodgers had more strikeouts in their debuts — both had 15 — as Strasburg fanned every Pirates starter, as well as pinch hitter Ryan Church, and got all but McCutchen and LaRoche twice.

“It wasn’t like anything I’d seen in the early part of my career,” McCutchen said. “All you had to do was sit there and tip your cap, like, ‘This guy is really good and he’s going to be really good.’ I hated to be on the losing side of it, but it’s cool to be some part of history.”

Paul Skenes Bump Day in Pittsburgh ???? pic.twitter.com/8At4PBJnYN

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Strasburg vs. Skenes

The similarities in their careers will draw comparisons between Strasburg and Skenes, especially the expediency of their rise to the majors after the dominance they displayed in the minors. Where Strasburg had 65 strikeouts against 13 walks in 55 1/3 innings over 11 starts at Double-A Harrisburg and Triple-A Syracuse in 2010, Skenes has 45 strikeouts against eight walks in 27 1/3 innings at Triple-A Indianapolis this season.

The Pirates are quick to warn that the two offer differing styles of pitching, in terms of mechanics. Both are big right-handers capable of topping triple digits and buckling batters with breaking balls but, at 6-foot-6, 250 pounds, the 21-year-old Skenes already is bigger than Strasburg (6-5, 239) and has been clocked at 102 mph on the radar gun.

“He’s unorthodox in a way to where he’s a very big guy and uses his strength and power to throw the ball how he throws it,” McCutchen said of Skenes. “He has a very low release point, so his fastball is going to play up because of the way that it carries out of his hand. It’s not the average righty fastball. He’s throwing it from an angle that’s down and he’s pushing it, so it’s going to have this illusion where the ball is going up so that 100 is going to look a lot harder. He has a short stride. Strasburg had a very long stride. His release point was very far out there, so that gave the illusion of his 100 playing up.”

Where Strasburg hit 100.1 with a four-seam fastball in the second inning of his debut, Skenes did so on four consecutive pitches in the first inning of his final start for Indianapolis this past Sunday. Skenes also showed a five-pitch repertoire, using a changeup, curveball, slider and splinker, a splitter-sinker hybrid.

“He’s got so many pitches,” Wehner said. “We’re talking 102 for seven innings in college. That’s a whole other level. Strasburg was throwing 100, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard of anybody as a starter maintaining 100. And we’ll see if that is realistic throughout his career or this year, if (Skenes) can average 100 mph and touch 102, 103 as a starting pitcher.”

McCutchen also believes Skenes has the mental makeup to handle adversity, given his two seasons as a two-way player at Air Force and the pressure of pitching as the Friday night starter in the SEC for LSU.

“I think the thing that stands out with him is not his stuff; I think it’s the way he views his stuff, the way he views the type of pitcher that he is,” McCutchen said. “You can throw 100 but to be that confident in your stuff, that’s a whole other side that some people have and some people don’t. He has it. To be able to have that 100, that mindset is going to be good for him. It’s just going to make his stuff play even better.

“I feel like he’s going to deal with adversity fine because we all have to, no matter who you are. I think he’s in a good spot mentally. Physically, obviously he’s in a good spot. I don’t see him doing anything different than what he’s been doing thus far. He doesn’t need to.”

Walker is more concerned with Skenes being compared to fellow Pirates rookie right-hander Jared Jones, who is off to an historic start. Jones has recorded at least seven strikeouts in six of his first seven starts, and he had 10 in his debut March 30 at the Miami Marlins and again May 4 against the Colorado Rockies at PNC Park.

“I do think that it would be somewhat unfair to try to assume that he’s going to do the exact same thing as Jared Jones,” Walker said. “I think that’s how people are going to look at this. Regardless of what your arsenal is and how touted you are, first things first, if you don’t throw strikes, that’s a major problem, no matter who you are or what team you’re facing. You can throw 105 mph, but if you’re not throwing strikes. … The main reason (Jones has) been so good is because he’s throwing the ball over the plate.”

After seeing Strasburg’s debut from the batter’s box, Walker will watch Skenes’ first start from the stands. He thought there was a chance Skenes could make his debut this weekend, so Walker bought tickets early and is taking his 7-year-old daughter to the Pirates-Cubs game Saturday.

“Now, I’m sure the ticket market is going bananas,” Walker said. “It’ll be exciting. It’s going to be a much different experience as a fan, not being concerned about getting hits or playing defense or broadcasting.

“There was a lot of buildup, certainly, and I can remember a lot of hoopla around (Strasburg) as a high draft pick who is going to make a fairly immediate impact on the team. As players, you get so locked into the day to day that you’re not really as concerned about who’s on the mound, but you’re also very aware of when big-name guys come up. That Strasburg night was obviously a different type of night. People were all jacked up. I remember that day very well and the buzz around the stadium, which I’d imagine will be very similar on Saturday.”