Paul Skenes in Dodger Stadium.
Someday, that may be a regular occurrence.
Skenes, the Pirates ace from Lake Forest, California (just down the road in Orange County), was dominant on Friday night in a win over the Dodgers with about 35 of his family and friends there to support him.
“I was playing for free tonight,” Skenes told reporters. “It was fun. I’ll go up there and see them here in a minute. Today, actually, was kind of a family get-together. It was all my mom’s brothers, my dad’s brother and their families are all here, which is cool. It hasn’t happened for a while, so cool to be able to share that with them.”
Skenes lasted 6.1 scoreless innings. He recorded a season-high nine strikeouts while holding the potent Dodgers lineup to five hits and no walks.
Just in his second year, it’s a long way until Skenes is a free agent.
But it’s not hard to picture a scenario where the Dodgers eventually open up their whole pile of gold for Skenes.
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He might already be the best pitcher in baseball at age 22. He started the All-Star Game as a rookie. His starts are like a holiday in Pittsburgh.
Skenes even has the Hollywood girlfriend, Livvy Dunne.
Pitchers in modern baseball are fickle. Arms get hurt, and hurt again.
But the 6-foot-6, 260-pound Skenes seems as likely to maintain his durability as anyone.
He throws baseball pitches like he’s pulling off magic with a Wiffle Ball.
The Pirates will want to keep him forever, of course. But that would likely require a contract commitment the likes of which have never even been considered in Pittsburgh.
If Skenes continues on this trajectory, there’ll be only a few teams capable of paying him what he’s truly worth in 2030 free agency.
Could he be baseball’s first-ever $1 billion contract?
There certainly isn’t much that Skenes can’t do.
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