“He’s a Pretty Darn Good Player”: Paul Skenes Maintains His Swagger While Praising Shohei Ohtani For Smashing Him Out of the Park

Sometimes baseball is all about the moments. Evidence of that came yesterday when, even after the Los Angeles Dodgers lost the game, their fans still found something to celebrate. In what was a historic matchup between Shohei Ohtani and top rookie Paul Skenes, it was Shotime who got the last laugh. However, while that was a perfect “welcome to the league” by Ohtani to Skenes, the rookie couldn’t help but tip his hat for the superstar.

When the game began, it looked like Ohtani was continuing his recent slow form. During his first at-bat, the two-way phenom had no answer for Paul Skenes’ flame throwers. The rookie didn’t just strike out Ohtani; he did so with three 100 mph plus pitches. However, in the second at-bat during the third inning, Ohtani finally caught a break. While the Dodgers superstar was again troubled by his fastballs, he finally broke through and hit Skenes’ 100-mph fastball into the stands. 

Though it didn’t help the Dodgers get a win, it did show the quick learning abilities of Ohtani. So during his postgame interview, a satisfied and full swagger Paul Skenes had a few words of praise for the two-time MVP. “I like to call that big on big because I obviously beat him a couple times earlier,” Skenes said. “That was the right pitch to throw there, he just, he’s a pretty darn good player so stuff like that’s going to happen.”

On the whole, Skenes struck out 8 batters in what was a dominating performance. The Pittsburgh Pirates won the game 10-6 and, with that, also sealed a series win. As for the Dodgers, it continued their recent topsy-turvy form. However, in good news, their hitters finally found some hits in this game. 

But will this form continue? That’s up for debate. But regarding this epic face-off, even Shohei Ohtani had to give respect to this young Pittsburgh Pirates rookie.

Shohei Ohtani highlights how Paul Skenes’ strength isn’t just his velocity 

After the game, Shohei Ohtani gave his two cents about Paul Skenes’ pitching. “The stuff itself was really good,” said Ohtani. “As you saw in my first at-bat, couldn’t really put together good swings…Rather than the velo, it’s really the angle and the release. So I made the adjustment the second at-bat.”

But while for Ohtani velo wasn’t an issue, for others it very much was. The Los Angeles Dodgers’ most highlighted weakness this season has been their failure to successfully hit fastballs. It was this weakness that led to this series loss against a team that itself is struggling to reach a .500 record. Perhaps this is the wake-up call that they need; perhaps this is the way to solve this urgent issue.