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By Jarrod Prugar
For the Mirror
The No. 1 overall pick of the 2023 MLB Draft, Paul Skenes, is expected to make his Double-A debut Saturday night for the Altoona Curve.
Skenes will be added to the roster ahead of his start, but is expected to join the team today according to the Altoona front office. This follows a weeklong stint as a member of the Bradenton Marauders.
With the Marauders, Skenes appeared in two games, tossing three shutout innings, walking one and striking out four.
Skenes overpowered hitters with his fastball that was routinely in the upper-90s and a devastating slider.
He joins the Curve and will be the second youngest player on the team, second only to Anthony Solometo who was born on Dec. 2, 2002.
While it won't be official until prior to the game, Skenes' start Saturday will make him the second No. 1 overall pick to play for Altoona this season joining Henry Davis, who was the 2021 No. 1 pick.
The Curve were already expecting a large crowd for Saturday's contest against Akron having pre-sold more than 5,000 tickets as of Monday afternoon and that was before news of Skenes getting the nod was announced.
Pirates general manager Ben Cherington declared a few weeks ago that Skenes is anticipated to throw roughly 20 innings in the minor leagues this season. Judging by the remainder of the schedule, he's slated to make four starts for Altoona barring anything unforeseen.
Those starts are with regular rest and would put him in line to start twice against Harrisburg which would pit him against the No. 2 pick of the 2023 MLB Draft and his former teammate at LSU, Dylan Crews.
The workload of Skenes is yet to be determined, but his innings increased between his first two outings from one inning to two innings with Bradenton.