Add MLB veteran Steve Blass to the growing list of observers blown away by Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes’s performances.
In less than two full seasons with the Pirates, Skenes has 15 wins in 37 starts and a sub-2.00 ERA.
The statistics generated by Skenes since being promoted from Triple-A Indianapolis in May 2024 are generational. Not since Stephen Strasburg joined the Washington Nationals in June 2010 has there been a young National League hurler so under the media microscope. At 6 feet 6 inches and 235 pounds, Skenes continues to intimidate opposing batters with the same success as some of the game’s greats from years back.
Steve Blass, 83, knows good pitching when he sees it. The former 10-year pro who pitched two complete games in the 1971 World Series, including Game 7, which propelled the Pirates past the highly favored Baltimore Orioles, has been associated with the Pirates for more than 60 years. When the runner-up to the 1972 National League Cy Young Award winner Steve Carlton speaks, undivided attention is the norm.
During a recent phone conversation with The Epoch Times from his home in Pittsburgh, Blass praised the way Skenes goes about his work. Blass played in an era when the National League’s star arms included Don Drysdale, Sandy Koufax, Bob Gibson, and Juan Marichal, names that came up when Blass discussed Skenes.
“He’s a taller version of Tom Seaver—a combination of power, with a gut feel on how to pitch,” said Blass, who served as a broadcast color analyst for the Pirates for 34 years. “[Skenes] can throw fast or slow, and has three quality pitches in his toolbox to work with. I haven’t seen anyone like Skenes in the big leagues in a long time.”
Blass compared Skenes to Hall of Famer Tom Seaver. Both are Californians—Skenes grew up in Lake Forest, and “Tom Terrific,” a tag earned during his most productive 11 MLB seasons with the New York Mets, is from Fresno. Both won National League Rookie-of-the-Year honors. In 1967, Seaver’s first MLB season, the Mets finished in last place. Last season, even though Skenes was seen as a beacon of hope, the Pirates ended up at the bottom of the National League Central.
“Skenes can throw what pitch he wants to, and when. Plus, he has good control. I admire that. Paul is the real deal. At 23, the guy is very mature. Paul shows he has a feel for the fans, the Pirates’ organization, and from what I’ve seen, he’s decent to the media. All the boxes get checked by him,” said Blass, who made his MLB debut in 1964 at Pittsburgh’s Forbes Field against the Milwaukee Braves.
Ballplayers aren’t expected to turn in sterling performances every outing, but Skenes has spoiled MLB fans. If during any pitching assignment Skenes shows the slightest hint of being average or mortal, alarms go off and observers wonder if the game’s “Golden Arm” is experiencing unknown physical limits. Like it or not, when Skenes goes to work, perfection is expected. This was the case with a number of top starting pitchers in the 1960s and 1970s.
“Now, Jim Maloney of the Cincinnati Reds, he was a pitching ’stud‘ when I played,” said Blass. “So was J.R. Richard of the Houston Astros. Nolan Ryan too, like Jim and J.R., was a power pitcher. They each had three or four pitches moving across the plate wherever they wanted the ball to go, and their pitches were in the mid-90s for the most part. Paul’s ’splinker’ pitch has movement and speed. The way that pitch has the bottom fall out from it is amazing.”
Maloney and Skenes were each among the hardest throwers in their era.
“What separates Paul from the rest of the National League pitchers, at this stage of his career, is his ability to already read batters,” said Blass, who remains with the Pirates organization as an ambassador. “By the previous pitch he throws to them, Skenes can and has successfully determined what the next pitch should be. This is a huge benefit for him to get the advantage over his opponents.”
Labeling Skenes a “flame thrower that is also a pitcher,” Blass doesn’t hold back his enthusiasm for last year’s National League starter in the All-Star Game.
From College World Series hero with Louisiana State University in 2023, to being the talk at baseball fans’ water coolers from Maine to Oregon, Skenes appears to have a secure handle on carrying the torch of MLB’s future.
