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Paul Skenes officially signs with Pirates, gets record-breaking signing bonus
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Paul Skenes is officially a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates.
The No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 MLB Draft has agreed to a deal with the Pirates, according to MLB Pipeline’s Jim Callis. Skenes signed for $9.2 million, which crushes the previous record-high signing bonus set by Spencer Torkelson back in 2020.
He’s the first player ever to earn a MLB Draft signing bonus north of $9 million:
No. 1 overall pick Paul Skenes signs w/@Pirates for $9.2 million (pick value = $9,721,000). Breaks @MLBDraft record of $8,416,300 (Torkelson, 2020). @LSUbaseball RHP, ranks w/Strasburg as best Draft pitching prospect ever. Fastball up to 102 mph, wipeout upper-80s slider. pic.twitter.com/hVECfTjFLx
— Jim Callis (@jimcallisMLB) July 18, 2023
Skenes immediately becomes arguably the top pitching prospect in the Pirates’ system and is amongst the best in the entire league. He’s expected to figure into the Pittsburgh’s big league rotation early on in his professional career.
On Wednesday morning, the Pirates shared video of Skenes arriving at PNC Park:
Paul Skenes → 412 pic.twitter.com/N4LPLVpRKu
— Young Bucs (@YoungBucsPIT) July 19, 2023
Skenes helped lead LSU to a National Championship in 2023. He was college baseball’s top arm all year long, as he posted an ERA of 1.69 and struck out 209 batters in 122.2 innings of work.
Here’s a clip from Skenes’ introductory press conference:
Paul Skenes is a PIRATE !! pic.twitter.com/Qo9oUidcUp
— SportsNet Pittsburgh (@SNPittsburgh) July 18, 2023
Spenser is a news editor for Saturday Down South and covers college football across all Saturday Football brands.
