Selected in the first round (No. 1 overall) of the 2023 MLB Draft by the Pittsburgh Pirates out of Louisiana State University... signed with the Pirates on July 18, 2023 and received a $9.2 million signing bonus... spent his first two college seasons (2021-22) at the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs and pitched two summers with the U.S. collegiate national team before coming to Baton Rouge and winning a College World Series championship with LSU in the spring of 2023... was the only NCAA Division I player to reach double figures in wins and home runs in 2022, making him arguably the top two-way player in the 2023 Draft class... awarded the Dick Howser Trophy in June 2023 as the nation’s best NCAA Division I player for the 2023 season after he finished 13-2 in 2023 with a 1.69 ERA in 122 2/3 innings... became just the second LSU player to win the Howser Trophy (1B Eddy Furniss, 1998)... was considered the best college pitching prospect since Stephen Strasburg in 2009... made his Pirates debut on Aug. 10, 2023 in the Florida Complex League, starting for the Rookie-level FCL Pirates against the FCL Twins... Pirates promoted him to Single-A Bradenton on Aug. 15 when he made his Florida State League debut with two strikeouts in one inning against Lakeland... made his Double-A debut a week later with Altoona, where he ended the year
At LSU, Skenes won Southeastern Conference pitcher of the year honors, led NCAA Division I in strikeouts (209, breaking Ben McDonald's school and SEC record), strikeouts per nine innings (15.3) and WHIP (0.75) and ranked second in wins (12), ERA (1.69) and opponents' average (.165)... after working at 93-95 mph and touching 99 with his fastball as a sophomore, Skenes averaged 98 mph and hit 102 at LSU... also saw time as a catcher at Air Force... in 2022, he was named to Golden Spikes Award Preseason Watchlist while at Air Force, where he was a member of cadet squadron 9 and majored in military strategic studies... before AIr Force, he was a three-year letterwinner and a team captain his senior year at El Toro High School… as a junior in high school, he was named first team all-league, all-county, all-conference, and all-state... during his senior year, he was first team all-county... graduated with a 4.76 GPA and 11th in his class…played club ball for Rox Baseball as well as the Saddleback Cowboys while in high school... in 2023 at LSU, he pledged $10 for every strikeout he recorded to Folds of Honor, a nonprofit organization that provides educational scholarships to the spouses and children of military and first responders who have died or been disabled
Son of Karen and Craig Skenes; Craig works for a pharmaceuticals company, and Karen is a stay-at-home mom... has an older sister, Lauren, and a younger sister, Kristen... his uncles Mike and Pete served in the U.S. Navy and his uncle, Dan, served in the U.S. Coast Guard... majored in interdisciplinary studies after transferring to LSU
2024
Entered 2024 as the No. 3 prospect in baseball and the Pirates' No. 1 prospect, according to MLB.com... ranked as the No. 10 prospect in baseball by CBS Sports... ranked by Bleacher Report as the No. 6 prospect entering 2024... the Pirates announced on May 8 that they were promoting Skenes to the Majors ahead of his first start on May 11 against the Cubs at PNC Park... at the time of his promotion, Skenes owned a 0.99 ERA and had 45 strikeouts over 27 1/3 innings with Triple-A Indianapolis
2023
The No. 1 pick in the 2023 MLB Draft, Skenes made his much-anticipated Pirates debut on Aug. 10 with Pittsburgh's Rookie-level Florida Complex League affiliate, striking out one in one inning of a start against the Twins... Pittsburgh immediately moved the right-handed up to the Florida State League, and he debuted with Bradenton on Aug. 15 against Lakeland, when he struck out two in one inning... started again against Lakeland on Aug. 20, throwing two scoreless innings... Skenes was promoted to Double-A Altoona and made his Eastern League debut on Aug. 26 against Akron, when he allowed the first runs of his career (four in 2/3 of an inning)... he made one final start for Altoona on Sept. 1 at Erie, striking out three in two frames for the SeaWolves... Skenes finished the 2023 season ranked by MLB.com as the No. 1 pitching prospect in baseball, the No. 3 prospect overall and the Pirates' No. 1 prospect
Awards and honors in college:
At LSU
2023 Dick Howser Trophy Winner
2023 National Player of the Year (D1 Baseball, Collegiate Baseball)
2023 National Pitcher of the Year (ABCA)
2023 Consensus First-Team All-American
2023 College World Series Most Outstanding Player
2023 NCAA Regional All-Tournament Team
2023 SEC Pitcher of the Year
2023 First-Team All-SEC
2023 SEC First-Year Academic Honor Roll
2023 LSWA Louisiana Pitcher of the Year
2023 Seven-Time Collegiate Baseball National Player of the Week
SEC Pitcher of the Week (March 6 and Feb. 20, 2023)
AT USAFA
2022 & 2021 First-Team All-American
2022 John Olerud Award Winner
2022 Mountain West Conference Co-Pitcher of the Year
2021 Collegiate Baseball National Co-Freshman of the Year
2021 Mountain West Conference Freshman of the Year
2021 USA Baseball Collegiate National Team Selection
