Pittsburgh Pirates pitching phenom Paul Skenes turned pitchman on Tuesday morning at the Sheetz station in Shaler.
Skenes made a surprise visit to the station to unveil Pirates jersey-patch sponsor Sheetz’s new partnership with Nathan’s Famous Premium Hot Dogs on its new nearly 10-inch “The Big Glizzy.” The name draws from Gen-Z’s social media-driven renaming of the American summer food institution.
The 6-foot-6 Pirates franchise cornerstone passed around a tray of sample-size versions of “The Big Glizzy” to a few kids, parents, media members, Sheetz employees and police officers assembled by the company and the team to try for themselves.
“There’s not much more American than eating hot dogs at 10 a.m.,” said Skenes as he dealt out the dogs.
The new made-to-order offering — an oversized plain dog that can be customized with various toppings — will retail for a base price of $3.99 at all Sheetz locations from June 24 through August, pending inventory.
Earlier in the morning, onlookers had been conversing in hushed anticipation about Skenes’ pending appearance.
When he finally arrived to take the glass domes off a few hot dogs positioned in front of the food counter, he came in hot.
“Yeah, it’s a hot dog,” he said with a good-natured grin when Sheetz PR staff lobbed him the chance to describe their new menu option.
Once the questions started rolling in from the media, however, the ace was warmed up and was ready to play ball.
On how many of the extra-large dogs he could eat:
“I could probably eat three or four, but I only would eat one,” Skenes said.
When asked about his favorite hot dog order: “That’s the beautiful thing about it, you can eat it however you want. I usually just go ketchup, but you can put whatever you want on it.”
Premade versions — including a Coney Dog with chili sauce and shredded cheese and an All-American dog, topped with ketchup, mustard and relish — are also available.
When pitched on using it as a pregame meal:
“This is a terrible pregame meal. This is a good mid-game meal for a fan,” he said. “Terrible for pregame, nothing wrong with that though. This is the real deal right here.”
Since being drafted by the Pirates with the first overall pick of the MLB Draft in 2023, Skenes has made numerous appearances for community service purposes on numerous occasions and to simply meet the fans. Earlier in June, he visited a Little League game in Wexford. He was also recently named Most Valuable Philanthropist of 2026 by The MLB Players Trust.
“You can’t really get a feel for the people who come to the games and the city that you’re playing for unless you come into the community, so I think stuff like this is important,” Skenes said. “You don’t know what Pittsburgh is until you meet the people.”
Nicholas Krotec of Shaler was on hand with his kids, Jameson, 6, and Elaine, 4.
“Jameson’s favorite baseball player is Paul Skenes. He loves baseball. He’s on three teams,” Krotec said. “He wanted to get out and see Paul Skenes. He’s a world-class talent and an ultra-nice guy. He couldn’t wait to see him. We’ve been out here since 8:30.”
When asked how he got the jump on the surprise event at 10:30 a.m., Krotec was mum.
“That’s for me to know!” he said.
As a native of California and alumni of Louisiana State University, Skenes recalled Sheetz as a “landmark” and one of his formative memories of the area.
“I don’t know of many brands that exemplify Pittsburgh more than Sheetz. I think a lot of people think of Pittsburgh, they think of Sheetz. They think of Pennsylvania, they think of Sheetz,” Skenes said. “I came up to Altoona a month or two after I got drafted, and the first place I went was Sheetz. It’s where I was recommended to go, and I’ve been coming ever since for gas, energy drinks, whatever else.
“Now, hot dogs — Glizzies, sorry.”