Pirates' Paul Skenes' Earns Rave Review From College Coach
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PITTSBURGH — Paul Skenes has excelled for the Pittsburgh Pirates these past few seasons, but his stardom began before he took a mound at the major league level.
Skenes dominated as a junior in 2023 at LSU, winning numerous accolades for his performances and leading the program to a National Title, setting a desire for winning that he is trying to establish in Pittsburgh.
His play with the Tigers led him to the Pirates, who took him first overall in the 2023 MLB Draft, also landing himself a record signing bonus of $9.2 million. Skenes is one of the best pitchers in baseball now, but his time with LSU is a big reason why he's at the level he is heading into 2026.
LSU HC on Paul Skenes
LSU head coach Jay Johnson recently spoke about Skenes on the College Baseball Show and his time him during Skenes' sole season with the program.
Johnson landed Skenes as a transfer from Air Force, but remembers that they spoke about mostly hitting and some pitching, as Skenes was then a two-way player before transitioning full-time to pitching.
He also credited Skenes' character and his drive, never satisfied with his performances and always wanting to be better.
"I thought he would be a first round pick, obviously would be a weekend starter for us," Johnson said. I would be lying if I said I thought he was gonna turn into the best pitcher on the planet. You know, you just don't see that coming.
"But in our recruitment of Paul, the person, you had a really good sense of how solid he was. So I remember going to see him in Colorado Springs and I flew in and we were going to meet in this restaurant and I was just parking and I looked up and I could see him walking and I was like, 'God this guy is gigantic!',
"He was two-way player, as everybody knows and so we're sitting in this restaurant and I got this presentation on my computer and we talked way more about hitting then about pitching and he would've hit 25 homers for us just to totally qualify that.
"It just, man every time he was in the box, I was so nervous somebody's gonna lose a fastball and hit him on the hand.
"But my favorite part of Paul was we would usually meet on Sundays briefly and he would throw like seven innings, 13 k's, three hits, a run maybe and all he would talk about is everything he was going to do better this week than he did last week. I was like, 'Feel free to do that again!',
"Just the dude's got it going on man in every phase. He's not just a great pitcher. He's a phenomenal human being."
Paul Skenes is just built different.
— The College Baseball Show (@CollegeBSBShow) February 3, 2026
LSU Head Coach Jay Johnson joined the College Baseball Show and talked about what made him so special! pic.twitter.com/Wc7L6VMwZW
Remebering Paul Skenes' 2023 Season with LSU
Skenes made the most out of his full season with the Tigers, serving as the best pitcher in the country.
He had a 13-2 record in 19 starts, 1.69 ERA in 122.2 innings, giving up just 23 earned runs and seven earned runs, 0.75 WHIP, .165 batting average allowed (BAA), while notching 209 strikeouts to just 20 walks.
Skenes led Division I in strikeouts, K/9 (15.33) and WHIP, second in ERA, third in K/BB (1.45) and fifth in H/9 (5.28). He also led the SEC in wins, strikeouts, BAA, innings pitched and ERA.
He dominated in the College World Series, with a 1.15 ERA in 15.2 innings pitched and a win in two starts, 21 strikeouts to just two walks, plus just five hits and two runs allowed. He won the College World Series Most Outstanding Player Award for his performances.
Skenes also won the Dick Howser Trophy for his performance, honoring the best player in college baseball, plus SEC Pitcher of the Year.
Dominic writes for Pittsburgh Pirates On SI, Pittsburgh Panthers Pn SI and also, Pittsburgh Steelers On SI. A Pittsburgh native, Dominic grew up watching Pittsburgh Sports and wrote for The Pitt News as an undergraduate at the University of Pittsburgh, covering Pitt Athletics. He would write for Pittsburgh Sports Now after college and has years of experience covering sports across Pittsburgh.