BRADENTON, Fla. — Despite the low stakes of the spring training atmosphere, the Yankees were able to get a couple of cracks at Paul Skenes on Tuesday afternoon, but he was just as solid as expected by those who haven’t faced him.
“He has a lot, a lot, a lot of talent,” said Everson Pereira, who didn’t face Skenes last year due to injury and went 0-for-2 against him on Tuesday. “Good arm. He threw great pitches. … He’s very good.”
Ben Rice echoed the take when asked about the 2024 NL Rookie of the Year, chuckling while shrugging, “I mean, he’s a good pitcher.”
Rice had two fly outs against Skenes in the 9-1 exhibition loss to the Pirates at LECOM Park.
The Yankees faced Skenes once during his star rookie campaign.
In the second-to-last regular season game, he pitched two innings, throwing 23 pitches (17 for strikes) while recording three strikeouts.
Pirates. Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images
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On Tuesday, he kept the Yankees scoreless for three innings, but they nearly got into a rhythm on Skenes in the top of the third.
Ismael Munguia singled off the All-Star right-hander, then stole second and third.
Anthony Volpe argued against a called strike that would have led to a strikeout, but the challenge was successful and he happily walked to first base to leave Jazz Chisholm Jr. at the plate with two runners on and two outs.
In another stroke of luck, Chisholm’s pop foul was missed by Pirates catcher Joey Bart, yet the second baseman then went on to strike out to leave Skenes unscathed. It wasn’t until the fourth inning that the Yankees got on the board against Skenes when Trent Grisham ripped a solo home run to right field.
“I mean, he’s tough,” Yankees bench coach Brad Ausmus said. “They had some good at-bats out there. Grish obviously scored that one ball out. Munguia had some good at-bats. There was some good at-bats but he’s a tough assignment.”
Skenes left his third spring outing with five strikeouts, four hits and one earned run across four innings.
Still, it was a valuable experience for young players in camp such as Spencer Jones, who has only seen major leaguers while in spring training but earned a walk off Skenes during a six-pitch battle.
“If nothing else, he sees what he’s going to have to face when he gets to the big leagues. It’s not always an easy task. With Paul Skenes it’s a harder task than normal,” Ausmus said of Jones, who was reassigned to minor league camp following the game.
“It’s really helpful,” Rice said. “Anytime you get to see a quality arm up there, it’s fun to kind of battle test yourself a little bit and see how things play out.”
