Sports

Paul Skenes Continues To Thrive, Gets Promoted 1 Month Into Pro Career

#Paul Skenes
by
Paul Skenes throws a pitch in a minor league game.

Getty Image


Pitcher Paul Skenes continues to absolutely thrive both on and off the baseball field. The national champion and No. 1 overall pick has been promoted just one month into his professional career.

Skenes is now halfway to The Show after being called up this week. He’ll take over for the Double-A affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates this coming weekend.

The flamethrower has been an absolute stud on the mound dating back to his college days. As a junior at LSU, Skenes helped lead the Tigers to a College World Series title, being named Most Outstanding Player in Omaha.

He also landed National Pitcher of the Year honors while setting an SEC record for strikeouts in a season.

The production earned him a top overall selection as he was taken No. 1 by the Pittsburgh Pirates. He then signed a $9.2 million signing bonus, the highest ever for a drafted player.

He’s looked impressive thus far in his professional career, showing out in Single-A. He’s also made headlines away from the diamond for his relationship with LSU gymnast Livvy Dunne.

As if his life couldn’t get any better, he landed more good news on Monday. Skenes was informed that he’d be promoted to Double-A Altoona with plans to make his first start in just a few days.

More from MLB.com:

The Pirates announced on Monday that Skenes, the first overall pick in the 2023 MLB Draft, has been promoted from Low-A Bradenton to Double-A Altoona and is expected to start against the Akron RubberDucks on Saturday at Peoples Natural Gas Field.

Altoona has about a month left in its season, meaning he likely won’t move higher than Double-A this year. Still, it could allow him to make four more starts with his new club.

Should things progress as they have over his first month of pro ball, we could see Skenes in Pittsburgh sooner rather than later.