LSU star pitcher Paul Skenes Jun 17, 2023; Omaha, NE, USA; LSU Tigers starting pitcher Paul Skenes (20) throws against the Tennessee Volunteers in the first inning at Charles Schwab Field Omaha. Mandatory Credit: Steven Branscombe-USA TODAY Sports

LSU star pitcher Paul Skenes has shown all season that he is perhaps the best pitcher in college baseball. He showed off his supreme talent yet again in their College World Series matchup against the Tennessee Volunteers on Saturday.

Skenes is largely seen by most as a potential top-five pick in the upcoming 2023 MLB Draft, and a lot of that is due to his impressive velocity.

He started Saturday’s game with a seven-pitch at-bat against Tennessee leadoff hitter Maui Ahuna. All seven pitches in the at-bat were either at or over 100 miles per hour, concluding on a 102 MPH fastball for the strikeout.

While his velocity is obviously impressive, it is far from the only part of his game. A strikeout of Tennessee outfielder Christian Scott shows that perfectly, throwing two nasty changeups followed by another 100-mile-per-hour fastball to get him out.

He continued this impressive outing incredibly deep into the game, recording 12 strikeouts through over seven innings of play. Skenes held the Volunteers scoreless through seven innings, but wasn’t quite able to finish off his start how he would have wanted to.

He finally ran into trouble in the top of the eighth inning, allowing his first earned run of the game on an RBI single with two outs in the inning.

This knocked him out of the game, and he was later charged for his second earned run of the game after LSU relief pitcher Gavin Guidry allowed a two-run home run later in the inning.

Despite the blemish, it was still an extremely impressive outing for Skenes. Many took to social media to praise him for his great performance.

 

It’s impressive enough to see this kind of performance in a regular-season game. To pitch like this in a game in the College World Series is pretty much unheard of, and it seems like we may be seeing the next MLB star in the making in Paul Skenes.

[MLB Pipeline on Twitter]

About Reice Shipley

Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.