GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
How about a brush back pitch?
Former LSU superstar pitcher Paul Skenes is expected to face former LSU superstar outfielder Dylan Crews for the first time in a Major League Baseball game tonight after the two were teammates on the Tigers’ 2023 national championship team. They then became the first two players from the same college in history to be drafted 1 and 2 in the MLB Draft later that same summer.
Skenes (1-1, 3.44 ERA), the National League Rookie of the Year last season and first No. 1 pick to start an All-Star game as a rookie, will start for Pittsburgh when the Pirates host the Washington Nationals and Crews at 5:40 p.m. Tuesday at PNC Park.
And Crews, the No. 2 pick of the ’23 draft and a favorite to win the National League Rookie of the Year entering this season, is listed as the starter in right field and batting eighth at .116 on the season.
Crews has started 12 of of 15 games in right field, but he has been struggling mightily at the plate with five hits in 43 at-bats and a .156 on-base average. He he was benched for the Nationals’ last two games on Saturday and Sunday at Miami after going 0-for-4 in his last game – a 7-4 win over the Marlins on Friday.
DYLAN CREWS OPENS SEASON IN NEAR-RECORD SLUMP
Crews has struck out 17 times this season, and there has been chatter that he should be demoted to Triple-A Rochester, New York, for a spell unless he starts hitting soon. Skenes, meanwhile, has struck out 20 with three walks in 18 and a third innings and is limiting opponents to a .179 batting average.
“I’m excited,” Crews told reporters before the game on Monday. “It’s something that we’ve been looking forward to for a while now. He’s a good buddy of mine. We’ve had some good history with each other. I’m just excited for this day. It’s going to be fun.”
In their only previous head-to-head matchup, Crews hit a solo home run to left field in the ninth inning off Skenes in a 6-5 LSU loss to Air Force on Feb. 21, 2021, at Alex Box Stadium. That was the first home run of Crews’ LSU career. He would hit 57 more.
Crews was a freshman for LSU at the time. Skenes was a freshman two-way player for Air Force and got the save as he struck out Tre Morgan to end the game. He allowed the one hit and one run in one inning of relief with two strikeouts. Skenes also played first base in the two-game series and went 0-for-8 with five strikeouts. LSU won the first game 6-1 with Skenes batting cleanup. Crews went 4-for-8 in the two games.
Skenes and Crews played one unforgettable season in 2023 for the Tigers, who finished 54-17 and won the school’s seventh national crown. Skenes was 13-2 with a 1.69 ERA (2nd in the nation) and first in the nation with 209 strikeouts in 122 and two-thirds innings. He won the Dick Howser Trophy that goes to the national player of the year.
Crews finished third in the nation in batting average at .426 and No. 1 in runs scored with 100 while hitting 18 homers with 70 RBIs. He won the Golden Spikes Award that also goes to the nation’s top player.
The dynamic duo were on the same field at PNC Park four times last season as the Pirates and Nationals split a four-game series in Pittsburgh after Crews’ Aug. 26 call-up. But Skenes did not have a turn to pitch. Crews went 3-for-13 in the series with a solo home run and three RBIs.
Skenes went 11-3 last season in 23 starts last season with 170 strikeouts in 133 innings with a 1.96 earned run average – the lowest ERA by a rookie pitcher in MLB since 1920. He is the first pitcher in MLB history to post a sub-2.00 ERA and have 175 or more strikeouts in his first 25 starts since ERA became an official statistic in 2012. He had a 1.46 ERA after his first two starts this season.
Crews is eligible for Rookie of the Year this season as he did not reach 130 at-bats cut-off last season. He hit .218 in 31 games in 2024 (26-for-119) with three home runs, eight RBIs and 12 stolen bases with a .288 on-base percentage.
During LSU’s NCAA Regional in May of their junior years at LSU two months before they went 1 and 2 in the MLB Draft, Skenes and Crews were asked to preview their first meeting in the minors, which never happened, or in MLB, which happens soon.
“Yeah, it’s going to require a lot of mixing of all five of my pitches,” Skenes said. “He hit a home run off me last time.”
The five-pitch repertoire has grown to seven at the moment for Skenes – a four-seam fastball, a slider, a sinker, a changeup, a curve, the patented “splinker,” which is a sinker-splitter combination, and the latest, a cutter.
“It’s going to be a battle,” Crews said two years ago. “I have nothing but respect for him. I respect his presence every single day.”
Be the first to comment