Famed Baseball Personality Goes Viral For Negative Post on "X" About Paul Skenes Debut

On Saturday, Pittsburgh Pirates' pitcher Paul Skenes took the baseball world by storm for his major league debut, but not everyone was that excited about it, including famed baseball stat man Bill James.

Sep 8, 2023; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; A detailed view of a Pittsburgh Pirates hat and glove before a / Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports

On Saturday afternoon, Pittsburgh Pirates' pitcher Paul Skenes took the baseball world by storm because of his major league debut.

Skenes, the 2023 No. 1 overall draft pick and national champion out of LSU, was the most anticipated pitching debut since Stephen Strasburg, and most baseball people were excited to see what he could do. However, one guy who wasn't that excited for Skenes to take the mound was Bill James, the famous father of Sabremetrics.

James played the part of Ebenezer Scrooge on "X" with his take about Skenes, and prospects in general.

Let me know if Skenes turns out to be anything special. I don't have enough brain cells left to worry about prospects who are supposed to be really good.

Let me know if Skenes turns out to be anything special. I don't have enough brain cells left to worry about prospects who are supposed to be really good.

— Bill James Online (@billjamesonline) May 11, 2024

Look, James has a point here, we all spend a lot of time talking about prospects and hyping them up. Teams covet them and hoard them and build them up, and some of them ultimately don't hit. If he would rather focus on already established players, that's fine, but where he misses the point is that someone like Skenes gives fans hope.

The Pirates haven't won a World Series since 1979 and haven't made the playoffs since 2015. It's been a downtrodden last 40 years to be a Pirates fan, and if Skenes allows a Pirates fan to dream about a championship future, what's the harm in that? All fans want is hope and a reason to be interested and invested, and Skenes certainly does that.

He threw 4.0 innings in his debut, allowing three runs and striking out seven.

As for James, he's been incredibly influential on the sport of baseball, as evidenced here:

James is an author and the father of sabermetrics, the in-depth statistical analysis of baseball players to determine what supporters say is a more accurate measure of value to major league organizations. Increasingly adopted by major league teams including the Oakland Athletics and Boston Red Sox, the principles of sabermetrics have changed the face of the national pastime and were featured in the 2011 Oscar-nominated movie, which starred Brad Pitt.

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