Pat McAfee Makes Million Dollar Deal With MLB’s New Superstar Paul Skenes

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it’s got a great mustache fantastic super tall yeah stopping stopping stopping stopping man yeah massive ass yeah huge lower bu huge ass National Champion yep throws gas they call him the gas station ladies and gentlemen Pittsburgh Pirates Ace Paul [Music] skins what’s up H what’s up guys how do you feel about the gas station and maybe gas has two s’s in it too you know what I mean so it’s like the gas station because you’re throwing gas and you have that massive ass that the Pirates posted on uh social media how do we feel about it we working with it we uh brainstorming still do we got any thoughts on that yeah I see what you’re doing there I don’t mind it I I never heard that one okay the gas station cuz guess what’s coming gas gas [ __ ] gas never runs out premium all right let’s talk uh about your debut with the Pittsburgh Pirates obviously we all Watch Seven strikeouts you pitch for four Innings one run against you left two on that goes in erra is what it is but they’re talking about historic debut for you what were your feelings I don’t know if you saw all of Pittsburgh loved what they saw from you from what we’re Gathering from our friends back there how were you feeling when he got out there and what was it like your uh first day in PNC yeah it was cool um that was my you know first time being in the in the stadium for a game in The Dugout for a game um you know and walking out there and you know getting the the crowd into it and all that like it it was it was just cool from uh I mean surreal just from the beginning it was it was an awesome day okay was any nerves you know like when you’re warming up there and Q Country Roads is hey come and take me home what a banger but I I learn of that from your playoff song He’s from morgat West Virginia I went to WVU so like I should have known about that song as a banger but there is people recording your warm-up and that song’s playing and I’m watching the video I’m like what a perfect what a perfect warm-up song are you taking it all in are you in a different world what is it like whenever you’re doing your warm-ups there for your first major league game yeah that hearing the song I I thought about that for a while thought about you know the song I was going to use um and I’m you know that’s the song I’ll use going forward um and and I didn’t really think about what the moment would be like but like warm it up and heing that and the crowd and everything it was it was really cool I wasn’t trying to take it into too much just cuz I I feel like I can get you kind of out of it a little bit um but looking back those those was a really cool moment hell yeah go ahead AJ what’s it like uh trying to get comfortable like pitching to to many different like catchers I guess and just like the logistics of of being called up here you go opening day I assume you haven’t really pitched too much to to any of the catchers there on the big league roster what’s that like is it tough I know some guys are very particular about what they want their catchers to do how they want him to be yeah there are a lot of conversations that go into that um and uh Grand doll is is the guy who caught me um and I had a lot of conversations with him in spring training um you know when I was around him and then you know kind of Silver Linings a little bit he was on a rehab assignment in Triple A earlier this year um which you never you never want to see but um being able to get that uh you know that experience with him I I threw to him I I you know talked with him about what what I was thinking and targets and that kind of thing um so it wasn’t the wasn’t the first time I’d thrown to him um and we had a little bit of a rapport going into the game Paul I’m so happy you’re in a Pittsburgh Pirates organization I am so happy I mean I don’t know if you know this I was not a baseball fan when I was born to the time I had a brain all the way through like having Memories the Pirates were terrible at baseball the only thing it was was going to PNC Park and hopefully if if they win that’s a huge plus yep huge plus and then we get Zan belly fireworks after now like people are like wait a second this could be something special especially with you in a young group sparking it go ahead tone Pirates fan yeah Paul uh you and Jared Jones the Hondo boys um also a rookie also has been incredible and started the season up with the club are you guys leaning on each other how much uh did you talk to him before your first start since he had his first start also this year what’s the relationship like between you two yeah I didn’t know him too well before uh before this offseason really um and you know it’s kind of grown into a pretty good friendship pretty quickly um you know we were together for for most of spring training while I was in Big League camp and um obviously this is his first go around too um you know with with being in the big leagues and everything but he’s done it for you know a month and a half longer than I have so being able to you know pick his brain about what the you know the Vibes like and the expectations and everything like that for a guy who’s you know been there done that a little bit um it’s it’s awesome I know it might be a little bit different right now on the screen because you’re looking at a grown ass man you know but aside yeah I don’t know if you’re a little scared right now you know what I mean I don’t know if you’re a little scared right now I’d even Flex a tricep a little bit let you know that you know let you know the Horseshoe is working you know he’s po don’t you even think about letting anything hang but aside from that is there anything else Tai as a question for you yeah Paul obviously it’s only been one start um but in terms of just like adjustments or you know like the differences like what did you notice the the biggest adjustment or difference was from pitching in triaa to being in the bigs I don’t know um and I think to an extent the uh I don’t want to call that outing a wash but like it’s such a a different and like interesting outing um just cuz there’s so so much other stuff going on there that it’s it’s a little bit hard to kind of drown it all out like you know a major league debut is is a major league debut um and so I don’t I don’t know exactly what what you know in terms of like the adrenaline and everything there it’s so hard to to kind of drown it out um so I don’t the hitters are definitely better um you have to be finer for sure um in terms of how you attack them and that kind of thing but um I don’t know you’ll probably have to give me a couple more outings for me to give you a definitive answer on that I appreciate everything like the way you go about doing your business is hilarious we I’ve told this story a couple times to people back in Pittsburgh who went and watched you and were like hey this dude is as advertised that that is what they’re this dude is just and I I tell them like yeah all ball too like this guy is just all baseball you only want to get better and better it feels like from when we talked to you whenever you were here we told you about the Indianapolis Zoo which is beautiful which is literally right next to the ballpark in which you were playing at for the Indianapolis Indians and you didn’t even know it existed because literally you throw balls and then you’re napping and then Livy uh the video announcing your reaction is when you both wake up from a nap and realize that he’s now in the majors it’s like this dude literally just sleeps and does baseball is that the mindset for what the next your whole life like what why do you think you’re like this and is this going to be how you are you think for the for the foreseeable future yeah I don’t know um and I think that I’m I’m young and like I you know the cool thing about being here is there are you know 35y olds who have played for a while in the big leagues and they all kind of say the same thing it’s like you can’t just be ball and and sleep like kind of how I am right now but I think I’m young enough and like new enough to it to where I can get away with it and you know be fresh every day and show up with a fresh mind and that kind of thing I don’t think that’s how it’s going to be forever um you know people always you know do you golf or anything like that I’m like I don’t golf I I don’t see myself golfing ever but I know I got to pick something up at some point at some point they tell me I got to do a hobby do you play cards you play cards I’m starting to yeah that’s a that’s a good one okay there’s a little mental vacation quick you know a little refresher and you’re still competing you know and camaraderie building a lot of uh cards is a good is a good hobby to pick up I assume with the amount of time you guys are going to be on the road as well there was something that took over all conversation of all the baseball NDS debuts got a question for you yeah maybe pick up some gaming too I’m a big MLB the Show guy something I didn’t know existed the spinker you know I know not many guys throw that and you do definitely do how did you get that Into Your Arsenal yeah I mean I kind of laugh when people call it the the spanker it’s just it’s that that’s a name for a pitch like um one of our guys Henry Davis came up with that during during spring training or uh during the offseason when he was catching me and it’s like I I’ve always called it a Sinker um on the scoreboard and Stat cast and that kind of thing they’re calling it a splitter um and you look at like the metrics of it it’s not a true Sinker it’s not a true splitter um I don’t know it’s it is what it is I I literally just came about uh you know finding that pitch just by playing around and throwing it in catch play one day and it kind of stuck what does it do so what what why why do they say it sinks and it splits this thing’s moving this thing’s moving twice right now like I’m a righty I’m a righty right now so what is this pitch doing is it coming towards me is it going away is it going down is it going out does it change every time what is that pitch do that has everybody kind of uh befuddled we’ll say yeah from what I’ve heard um because I’m a low slot so you expect the ball to kind of go uh you know arms side with it and maybe you know maybe ride a little bit too um so what I’ve heard from all the catchers and and the hitters that have faced me that I’ve talked to after is that it kind of just go straight down um which isn’t you know sink or you expect it to go down and and and arms side too in the way they see is it just kind of goes straight down is kind of what what uh what I’ve heard all right you know I’ll just Bunch you the whole time F that’s what I would do the whole time are you uh hey I don’t know sorry about this I had to step in a batter’s box with top pitching Prospect in the history of baseball I mean have to abuse the have to abuse the situation beautiful stadi yeah so I apologize for you know kind of taking it in the batter box there and I did get a hit I’m on base y so I’m uh batting thousand against Paul skines it’s right here yeah it is right here on this entire thing uh we talked to Shan Casey the mayor who’s a Pittsburgh native he played for the Cincinnati Reds for a long time I think he played for the Red Sox for a while he’s been around he’s a hidden coach for the Yankees he said that he thinks and I don’t know if you heard this or not and there’s people I guess throwing um Mason Miller no in Oakland in Oakland he’s throwing like 103 104 I guess have you ever thought about what top end potentially could be as your body continues to grow and everything like that and what do those conversations look like I don’t know I haven’t thought about it uh the one thing that I you know do as best as I can is not put a ceiling on it um and vo isn’t you know V is cool but it’s not everything um and I think at some point if you you know you can chase v as much as you want but it might start to take away from other things it’s kind of how I look at it like which isn’t which isn’t to say I don’t want to throw harder but I’m you know I’m kind of happy with where I’m at yeah I think it’s doing just fine pal cannot wait to watch it continue to evolve speaking of evolve the game is doing so techn technologically but not in the majors Connor has a question for you yeah Paul were there any uh calls while you were pitching that you went to you know challenge like you could with the Indianapolis team that plays baseball here or were there a few what’s name I know you’re talking about you you guys know talking they play next to Indianapolis their name I’m just saying their name not going tell me not to say their name jeez disrespect her gu got guys’s got a cowboy hat on but uh skes were there any were there situations where he wanted to to challenge them or were you just kind of good with the calls I was good with them uh I don’t know I didn’t uh pay too much attention to which ones uh you know they they missed or anything like that you can see that after the inning or after the outing um in The Dugout but um I I I like the human part of the game there’s no point in I mean you’re never in the history of baseball has a called strike or a called ball gotten overturned so there’s no you know it’s just the game and I I love that part of it yeah you gave that answer to us about how you think framing catch or pitches is a big part of a job you used to be a catcher which leads me to Jeff passing’s 2:30 a.m. list of questions potentially for Paul schem he okay so our friend jet passing warms up the jet he covers baseball for ESPN uh we talked to him yesterday and I said hey if you have any questions that baseball people would ask Paul skines go on and send them over now sounds like you’re already on a good nutritional plan that’s a super alkaline uh plus seven I believe water that’s your Dre pH levels there love what you’re doing love what you’re doing young age take care of your body he said and on that note about being an ex- catcher could you play catcher today day if the Pirates asked says jet passing let’s say there’s a game we don’t want it to happen no no ever but you need to play catcher you think you can still get your big ass down into that stance and uh make it happen for the Pittsburgh BS a couple home runs guys I’ve been on this for a while um and I was trying to tell our manager in tripa how good I was at catching and and he doesn’t believe me and I don’t for some reason there’s no video anywhere that I can find of me catching so need somebody to find that but I I I think can um nobody ever believes me when I tell them that I was a catcher but uh I think I miss that just as much as I miss hitting okay I think he won the if I remember correctly the John olude two-way player award or something like that if I remember correctly for catching and pitching I think in which state I think that was California that no I believe that was a summer league up in the New England area if IOD League maybe is that right Paul uh no that was the college season whatever same yeah that was naal uh speaking of um College season um did you really turn down I’m not asking this question not these guys are pro now pass we’re not talking nil money jet pass why are we going back in time spaceships don’t come equipped with rearview mirors they dip um uh only one other guy in the world Joan Duron throws the spinker that you throw how did you pick up this new pitch since College I think you might have answered that but have you talked to Joan danan about the pitch and you talk to other pitchers about pitches that you could potentially add in to your bag Paulk yeah uh funny thing the pitching coach we had at LSU last year he was the head coach at Georgia now uh he was with the twins so he coached Duran and he coached me and there’s no correlation there I don’t think with the with the splinks but um kind of a Kind of a Funny thing there uh again the the sink I call it a sinker um spinker stat cast I think calls it a splitter like it’s it’s just a name to me um and he throws his like 10 miles an hour harder than mine probably like uh so I don’t even I don’t know that it’s the same pitch I think I got a ways to go before it’s you know a spinker like his okay so you okay I appreciate the humility and shout out to Joan Duron and uh pitch and everything like that do you guys pick up like will you pick up new pitches as you go or will a ball just start traveling for instance Matt Prader who’s a kicker uh I assume still in the NFL I I think he’ll probably kick forever there was his ball just started doing like a like a little bit of a slice and I asked him I’m like uh how’d that start happening why’d you start doing it he was like it just started happening one day like it literally just started happening so now I got to play it is there like different pitches that’ll show up whenever you’re practicing that’s like oh I didn’t know I could do that with the ball or how do you add on to your bag of pitch es yeah that’s literally how I found this Sinker I I was trying to that was one of the projects that I that I had when I got to LSU last year um and you know to to start throwing a sinker because having two fast balls is always a good thing as a pitcher so I was doing that and kind like I was I was trying really hard to you know make that happen I guess and I was throwing basically the difference is I was trying to get it off my middle finger then and I’m trying to get it off my index finger now and I literally just found the index finger Cube by just playing catch and I was just wasn’t fooling around but I threw one off the index finger that you know really Dove and I was like all right I’ll just keep doing that and I’ll keep trying to do that and I think as you as you come up with pitches it’s it’s a lot of fooling around for me um you get ideas from other guys and and what you see um but you know you got to just kind of fool around with it a little bit God that had be a great day when that thing just starts going like think about mariana rivera when he found that cutter oh what a day M what a day I don’t know how old he was he threw it though and somebody was like yeah nobody can hit that all right I’m going to do this this is what I’m going to do yep rest of your life you are good to do it I still think we should add the knuckle ball something to think about PA maybe with your left hand you get the glove that goes on the other side you knuckle it with that left hand really throw him for a loop Tai has a question for you Paul yeah Paul I can’t remember if you told us whether or not you were superstitious when you were in studio but have you locked down like a pregame meal before your starts yet I know you’re a big son of a [ __ ] so I don’t know if you’re eating you know 15 20 30y legs you know some mashed potatoes couple Ice Cold Pops maybe have you kind of developed something that you’re eating before every start or no yeah chicken alfredo before every start I got some some crap from some of the guys before my last one because I just had this you know ginormous plate of chicken alfredo u a couple hours before I was you know going on a pitch and you know they’re basically telling me they they won’t even make it out to pitch they’ just be sitting on the toilet if they ate that before before their outing but that’s just that’s what I do every every outing helps me you know keep my energy yeah roll the dice with a dump too that can really you know that can get you that can tighten it up a little bit whenever game gets a little bit longer go ahead AJ Paul speaking of like the the spinker and even any other pitches that you have picked up along the way how long from just figuring that out you know playing long toss or soft toss with your buddies to hey I’m going to use this in a game or spring training like matchup like how long does it take to where you feel comfortable and think all right I’m going to try this against some live batters depends on the pitch I think um because I started throwing my curve ball during the season last year when I went into the college season last year I was fastball Sinker slider change up um and we found pretty quick that it wouldn’t be very smart to throw my Sinker uh because that’s you know usually a right on right pitch and and they were cheating to to get to the fast ball so it was kind of just a bad speed pitch for them um but then third or fourth week of the season last year I started fooling around with what I wanted to be a gyro slider because I was throwing the sweeper basically have something that that was in the middle between my fast ball in the in the sweeper that didn’t move quite as much uh horizontally um so I I I threw a gyro slider my freshman in sop one year of college and went back to that queue and that grip um and it was uh it ended up being a curveball and locked it locked it in in about three days and started throwing in games uh probably three or four days after I you know first started throwing but that that’s not always how it goes yeah well that gyro slider though man once you get that thing and then a sweeper comes by game Chang holy [ __ ] you know and then once you have it you got it yeah and then you have the knuckle oh yeah with the left hand yeah you need to start working in the left-handed knuckle I I don’t even are you allowed to pitch both hands oh yeah yeah same at bat no yeah there used to be a guy who his glove was webbed on both sides and and he’d flip from you know one pitch he’d throw right-handed next pitch he’d throw left-handed really I he wasn’t playing in The Bigs I think he played like kraton or something like that and he wasn’t throwing very hard but he he did both gosh could you f i mean Paul let’s take this to the next level let’s start throwing with both arms you know you just started throwing a hundo with your right arm a couple years back which is why everybody in Pittsburgh is so damn excited this guy’s just getting start in this entire just getting started and when you started you decided you wanted to do it the right way too we learned about you donating to the Gary senise Foundation $100 per strikeout $700 already donated after his first four innings in the majors and uh we would like to let you know before you even open up about why you chose to do this which is an incredibly cool thing that the current record for a nine inning game is 20 strikeouts okay if you get to 21 we’ll donate a million to the uh to the the same foundation for you so if you get 21 strikeouts in a nine inning game okay cuz there’s a 16 iner in the history that that got 21 there’s a couple what’s that pirat let him it’s a new day obviously we’re just saying if we get to the situation it’s a perfect gab well we need one yeah absolutely 21 is right we’ll donate a million bucks to follow this but why’ you choose to do this and uh thank you for doing this this is a cool thing Paulk yeah thanks for the shout out with that guys um yeah it was it was something that we did we did I I worked with uh full Dev honor last year at at LSU kind of doing a similar thing it wasn’t it was $10 for strikeout uh then but um really you know I I I was at the Air Force Academy for two years and that uh had a you know profound impact on my life that um you know continues now uh a miss miss those guys and and you know the people that I was talking with some people yesterday because there was a tweet that came out about the uh the planes that we flew to two away games and so I got asked a lot about the Air Force Academy yesterday incidentally but um no it’s just the the people that you’re going to meet there uh the people that I met and everything that that I’ve um you know gained from being from there is is just unbelievable and so um obviously I’m not there anymore yep that’s the one um and obviously I’m not there anymore but uh just trying to find ways to get back to to that Community that’s done so much for me that’s awesome uh it’s incredibly cool you didn’t have to do that you chose to do that there’s a lot of people that say they would do that and don’t actually do that so you putting your money where your mouth is is sweet we’ll donate 100 alongside of you and then uh for every strikeout and then if we get 21 nine innings though hey okay you got it let’s not be doing 10 11 inning thing no no no okay we can’t be nine a million bucks W on top of it keep crushing it we’re incredibly lucky to get to watch you do your thing can’t wait to see how great you get and thank you for doing in Pittsburgh pal even though you didn’t really have an option you know no it’s uh wouldn’t wouldn’t want to do it anywhere else this place is awesome oh we love that love that hey if we call you Big Country not good because you’re from California you’re from the beach Hey Big Country gas station whatever you want I’m I’m good with it tell I I need a nickname is the gas station is already T it has to be already taken think oh oh no you’re good cuz it’s just gas bro yeah at all times there’s some stats about how many hundos you th and you probably get forced to look at them and everything like that it was uh there it is good F the one yeah this one fastest pitches by an MLB starter this entire year the guy whose name is up there you know the whole time he’s only played Four Innings he’s only played Four innings in his thir thing that’s the that’s the [ __ ] gas station mhm right only serving gas we appreciate the hell out of you Paul keep enjoying yourself and uh hopefully we’ll get to talk to you again soon yeah we’ll do appreciate you guys having me again ladies and gentlemen Paul SK gas station I like gas station I don’t mind gas station that’s good I was thinking like if you didn’t like if you wanted to do like big sheets but gas station is yeah gas pump station with two s’s gas yeah cuz he’s got that uh-huh yeah was there some was that AI you think what was that you think they aied his ass he looked like that one guy who on the internet with the uh the fake khakis do that uh the angle but I mean it wasn’t the p is that saying it’s the no I’m just saying it was khakis tended because that guy on the internet wears khakis all the time that’s he’s not doing that just for fun um has a dumper okay that’s the bottom line here these guys in The Bigs yeah who who throw gas massive ass on all of them all right and they just seem to go and they go on and on and on and on all right well thank you to Paul skin [Music]