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Hall of Fame pitcher Randy Johnson is impressed with Paul Skenes, but he issued a strong warning to the rookie sensation about how he should handle his baseball career.
Johnson, who pitched for 22 seasons in Major League Baseball and won five Cy Young Awards, recently saw Paul Skenes pitch against his former team, the Arizona Diamondbacks. During the game, Skenes was removed from the game after just one out in the fifth inning, presumably because he had reached 100 pitches.
While Johnson thinks Paul Skenes could end up being one of the greats, “it’s just unfortunate that a pitcher like him may not be as great as he can be because there are restrictions on him in today’s game.”
Speaking about those restrictions, Randy Johnson noted that after being removed from the game the Pirates’ bullpen blew the lead, costing Skenes a possible win.
“If he could’ve gone another inning, he might’ve gotten that win, because as soon as he came out, the next guy gave up three runs,” Johnson told CBS Sports.
“And that’s what I told him, when I met him. ‘The organization, Paul, is going to dictate what you are gonna do and if you wanna have a real career, if you become the pitcher that everybody thinks you’re going to be, you will have a lot of say in what you want to do, whereas a lot of pitchers don’t have that say, but you will.'”
Johnson believes Paul Skenes is “definitely special,” but added that is he wants to be the pitcher that he’s capable of being, “you need to step up and show people what you’re capable of doing and voice your opinion, because going five or six innings you’re not going to win very many ballgames in today’s game. You’re gonna have to go seven or eight innings and you’re not going to hurt yourself because the game has been around for 150 years and people went 7-8 innings all the time and they threw 115-135 pitches. You just have to mold your body and your body needs to become accustomed to that kind of workload. That’s all it is.”