LSU's Paul Skenes Is One Of Best MLB Pitching Prospects In Decades, But He Wanted To Fly F-16s And Still May

BATON ROUGE, La. - Either way, LSU pitcher Paul Skenes' life will be centered around jet fuel.

At the moment, he is throwing it for the Tigers. He hit 101.2 mph on his 124th and final pitch for the last out in the ninth inning against Tulane last Friday in an NCAA Regional opener. And he was not pitching on fumes by any means in his longest outing of the season. Skenes hit 100.02 and 100.15 earlier in the count against that last batter in his 7-2 win.

Oh, and Paul Skenes mixed in an 89 mph slider to Brennan Lambert just before he grounded out to shortstop to end the game.

"He's a great pitcher with great stuff," Lambert said. Lambert did hit a two-run home run off of him in the seventh and had a single before becoming one of Skenes' 12 strikeouts.

Paul Skenes Puts Pressure On Hitters

"He comes right at you. I think that's the toughest part about him," he said. "He's going to throw a lot of strikes and put the pressure on you."

LSU right-hander Paul Skenes (11-2, 1.90 ERA) of Lake Forest, California, may be the first player taken in the Major League Baseball Draft on July 11. He transferred from Air Force after last season. (Photo By OutKick's Glenn Guilbeau).

Skenes leads the nation with 179 strikeouts in 99 and a third innings for 16.2 a game - also No. 1 in the nation. The closest to him is 50 Ks away - Florida's Hurston Waldrep with 129 in 85 and a third innings.

"Yeah, he's the best pitcher in college baseball," LSU coach Jay Johnson said after the Tulane win. And he has said that many times.

"Gosh, I mean I can talk about Paul for hours," LSU pitching coach Wes Johnson said recently before a game. "It's really fun to see a guy put as much work in as Paul, and he's able to go out and execute it in the game."

Former LSU pitcher Ben McDonald has held the Southeastern Conference record for strikeouts in a season for 34 years with 202 in 1989 in 152 and a third innings. Skenes (11-2, 1.90 Earned Run Average) is also fourth nationally in ERA and tied for third in wins.

LSU Got Paul Skenes From Air Force

A junior transfer from Air Force, Skenes will likely need to get to the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska, to strike out 24 more to break McDonald's record. He will likely start for No. 5 national seed LSU (46-15) versus No. 12 seed Kentucky (40-19) Saturday (3 p.m., ESPN) at LSU's Alex Box Stadium to open a best-of-three Super Regional to get to Omaha. LSU beat Kentucky two out of three in the regular season at Alex Box. The Wildcats finished seventh in the SEC at 16-14. LSU finished second at 19-10.

LSU pitcher Paul Skenes is congratulated by teammates after throwing a season-high nine innings Friday for a 7-2 win over Tulane in the NCAA Regional opener in Baton Rouge. (Photo Courtesy of Tiger Rag Magazine's Jonathan Mailhes.)

"We all say, 'He's got Big League stuff,'" McDonald, a college baseball analyst for ESPN, said Sunday in between games at the NCAA Regional at LSU. "Well, Paul Skenes has Big League-READY stuff now. Like, you could take him tomorrow and plug him in the Major Leagues in the bullpen."

LSU COULD PUT 1ST 2 IN MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL DRAFT

Skenes (6-foot-6, 247 pounds) is expected to be the first pitcher taken in the Major League Baseball Draft on July 9. And he could be the very first pick by the Pittsburgh Pirates, unless the Pirates take his teammate, center fielder Dylan Crews. MLB.com has Crews and Skenes going 1 and 2. The Baltimore Orioles took the 6-7, 205-pound McDonald with the first pick of the 1989 MLB Draft.

Paul Skenes Could Pitch Now In MLB

"He'd hold his own right now in the Big Leagues," McDonald said. "He'd do fine."

But not that much more than a year ago, Paul Skenes wanted to fly on jet fuel in a F-16 Fighting Falcon multi-role fighter aircraft for the United States.

Skenes played his first two seasons of college baseball at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Twice he was named first team All-American. He won the John Olerud Award as the best two-way player in college baseball last year. Skenes (10-3, 2.73 ERA) struck out 96 in 85 and two-thirds innings in 2022. He also hit .314 with 13 home runs as a first baseman, catcher and designated hitter.

But had he stayed in "multi-roles" at Air Force, it would've required multiple years of military service before he could turn pro. So, he entered the NCAA Transfer Portal after the 2022 season. He may return to Air Force and to F-16s after his baseball career is over.

Could Paul Skenes Return To Air Force?

"I'm not sure, but it's definitely an option," Skenes said last week. "And I've thought about that. Obviously, hopefully, that's a long way down the road. But service is something that means a lot to me."

Skenes still has a lot more to learn about flying fighter aircraft than about throwing fastballs.

"I have no idea," he said when asked what the most difficult part of flying jets is. "Only thing I've done is sit in the backseat. I don't know."

But that remains a dream. A military strategic studies major at Air Force, Skenes' uncles Mike and Pete served in the Navy. His uncle Dan served in the Coast Guard. Skenes donates $10 per strikeout to the Folds Of Honor organization that provides families of fallen or disabled service members and first responders for educational opportunities. So far, that's $1,790.

The Military Means A Lot To LSU's Paul Skenes

"I've been affected in a number of ways by the military - in a number of positive ways," Skenes said. "And that's definitely something that's not out of the question."

Johnson is just glad he got Skenes for a one-year layover at LSU. He had visited Vanderbilt.

"When I went to Colorado to meet with him after he went into the portal, I was waiting in my car because we were meeting in a restaurant," Johnson said. "And when he got out of his car and walked by, I was like, 'My goodness, that is a physical specimen. That's what a Major League pitcher looks like. I better stand up taller.'"

Skenes' game kept growing. His Major League Baseball career is obviously on a faster track than his military career at the moment.

"I don't think anybody saw that jump that was coming when he first got to LSU," McDonald said. "Because at this time last year, Paul Skenes was projected as a second round draft pick, or a back end first round pick. Because the fastball was averaging 93 mph at Air Force."

Amid better weather conditions for pitching in the deep south and more time to devote to baseball without his rigorous cadet schedule at Air Force, Skenes quickly blossomed at LSU. Having a former Major League pitching coach from the Minnesota Twins in Wes Johnson as his pitching coach with the Tigers helped. Skenes is averaging 98 mph this season as opposed to 93 last year.

"And what you've got to remember Paul has dropped nearly a whole point on his ERA (from 2.73 to 1.90)," McDonald said. "He comes in and plays the best competition in the whole country, and his ERA went down. So that's how dominant a year he is having."

LSU Hopes To Ride Paul Skenes To Omaha

Skenes' size (6-6, 247) power and wide arsenal of pitches - 2-seam fastball, 4-seam fastball, slider, curve and changeup - remind baseball observers of McDonald (6-7, 205) coming out of LSU in 1989 and Stephen Strasburg (6-4, 220) exiting San Diego State in 2009. The Washington Nationals made him the first pick of the draft that year.

"We haven't seen anything like him in 20 years," McDonald said. "The previous comparable would be Stephen Strasburg. Paul is definitely the most dominant pitcher in the college game since Strasburg, and Strasburg was the most dominant pitcher in the college game after I was. There are other big arms around now, but nobody throws the amount of strikes or has the location Paul has. That's what separates him."

Paul Skenes Compares To Stephen Strasburg

Tulane coach Jay Uhlman had the misfortune of going against Strasburg and Skeens.

"Funny, you should ask," Uhlman said after the LSU loss when asked if Skeens reminds him of anyone. "When I was an assistant at Nevada (2002-09), we played against some guy named Stephen Strasburg. Similar - tall build, throwing angle. To me, those guys were in a league of their own. He uses all quadrants of the plate - in and out and up, and he spins the curveball. And he's a big, tall glass of water. When you're big like that, you create angles that make it difficult for guys to square up."

Paul Skenes is consistently hitting over 100 mph on the radar gun. (Photo by Michael Wade/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images).

A Generational Pitcher In The Works

One MLB scout of nearly 30 years who saw Skeens pitch Friday and will see him again this weekend has seen nothing like him in decades.

"In 28 years, he is the best amateur pitcher I've ever seen at this point in his career," he said. "He's better than Strasburg and Gerrit Cole (1st overall pick in 2011 by Pittsburgh) were at this point. And right now his fastball average of 98 mph is as good or better than any Major League pitcher. It's easy for him to throw hard, not a lot of effort. He makes adjustments in the game. He's special is all I can say."

Like McDonald, this scout says Skeens could pitch well in a Major League bullpen very soon.

Could Paul Skenes Be Pitching In The Majors This Year?

"If Pittsburgh drafts him, he could be in the bullpen in the playoffs," the scout said. "By next spring, he'll be in the starting rotation. And by the next year he'll be the No. 1 starter. You just don't see a guy throwing 101 mph at the end of a game very often. Maybe once every 10 or 20 years."

McDonald, who reached the Majors in his first year with the Baltimore organization in 1989 and pitched for nearly 10 years, sees Skeens pitching in MLB for longer.

"It's almost like it's not real," he said. "Like, he's one of these guys that's not going to fail. He's very mature. He has a swagger about him that says, 'I'm not going to fail at what I do.' The dude's going to be a Big Leaguer for a long time."