National League Cy Young Award winner Paul Skines has all the motivation he needs to head to the World Baseball Classic, thanks to Team USA’s success at the Winter Olympics.
“Winning the gold medal is the most important thing,” the Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder told reporters after his first spring training on Wednesday in North Port, Florida. “Yes, men’s hockey, women’s hockey, and all the other gold medals we’ve won at the Olympics. We’re America, and we’ve got to assert our dominance over everyone. That’s what we’re doing. It’s going to be fun.”
“The United States wins, that’s what we do. We have to keep it going.”
His 53-pitch outing against the Atlanta Braves is expected to be Skinnes’ only game before he joins the United States in the World Baseball Classic. Skines said he expects to start two legs in the tournament, which begins for Team USA with pool play at Daikin Park in Houston with games against Brazil (March 6), Great Britain (March 7), Mexico (March 9) and Italy (March 10).
“Whatever match I play in, it doesn’t really matter,” Skinnes told reporters. “I just want to win gold.”
The tournament culminates in the WBC Finals on March 17 in Miami.
Team USA also includes starting pitchers Tarik Skubal, Joe Ryan, Matthew Boyd, Logan Webb, Clay Holmes and Nolan Maclin on its roster.
“There will be two or two-and-a-half weeks to pick the guys’ brains,” Skinnes told reporters. “It’s one thing to talk to them, but it’s another thing to see how they work. So, apart from winning a gold medal, it would be a very good reward for doing that.”
Skines, who competed at the U.S. Air Force Academy for two seasons before transferring to LSU for his junior year, said he told Team USA director Mark DeRosa that he wanted to join America’s servicemen and women by participating in the WBC.
“This is what we do it for,” Skines told The Athletic on Tuesday. “This is the greatest country in the world. This is what I believe in. This is why I wanted to serve, and this is why I went to the Air Force Academy. These people don’t get the credit they deserve.”
“…We do it to represent the men and women who are fighting for us, along with many other things that make this country the greatest country in the world. That puts it in perspective a little bit.”
In his first spring start, Skines faced a different kind of challenge. He struck out four and walked four over 2 1/3 innings, but the Braves were 4-for-4 against the right-hander in challenges to get hits turned into balls — one of them by the smallest of margins.
Skines threw 27 pitches for strikes against the Braves, along with four other pitches initially called strikes by home plate umpire Chris Segal that were challenged by Braves hitters through the Automated Ball Strike System (ABS) — the so-called robotic umpires.
“Today, that’s how it is. I just have to adapt,” Skines said. “I think it will come down to it over the course of the season, but ask me in June.”
Three of those challenges came on consecutive hits in the first inning.
Matt Olson challenged an 82.3 mph curveball that was called a strike, and had a smile on his face as replays actually showed the 1-1 pitch was only about a tenth of an inch from the plate. And he continued walking.
“When the season starts, this may not be the pitch you’re going to be challenged on, but you have to get a little feel for it,” Olson said. “I thought, ‘Whatever. It was the backdoor vacuum that felt a little off.’
Jurickson Profar then challenged a 98.3 mph fastball for a hit on the first pitch he faced, and it was flipped to a 1-0 count before he also walked. Austin Riley sought a replay when a 99 mph pitch on the 0-2 count was called a strike, but it was above the zone, although on the next pitch he hit a 98.5 mph fastball just below that.
Skines, whose fastball was consistently in the upper 90s, allowed one hit and one run while facing 12 batters.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
