Pirates' Paul Skenes Praises Brewers Star Rookie

PITTSBURGH — Pittsburgh Pirates star pitcher Paul Skenes took one of the best rookie pitchers in baseball in his most recent start.

Skenes faced off against Brewers right-handed starting pitcher Jacob Misiorowski at American Family Field on June 25.

Misiorowski dominated the Pirates in this appearance, with eight strikeouts over five innings, allowing just two hits and two walks over 74 pitches in the 4-2 victory for the Brewers.

Skenes struggled in the second inning, allowing four runs, and only threw 78 pitches over five innings earning his seventh defeat of 2025.

He didn't see much of Misiorowski during this outing, but Skenes loved what he did see and is excited for future battles against him.

“Yeah, he did a great job," Skenes said on Misiorowski. "I didn’t watch a ton of it, but what I saw was pretty electric. Just want the best for him and looking forward to pitching against him again this year. It’ll be fun.”

The Brewers selected the contract of Misiorowski from Triple-A Nashville on June 12. He had a 4-2 record over 12 starts, with a 2.13 ERA over 63.1 innings pitched, 80 strikeouts to 31 walks and a .175 opposing batting average.

Misiorowski dominated in his MLB debut against the St. Louis Cardinals at home on June 12. He allowed four walks, but didn't give up a hit nor any runs, while striking out five batters in five innings in the 6-0 win.

He then had a perfect game heading into the seventh inning vs. the Minnesota Twins at Target Field on June 20 before allowing a walk and then a two-run home run. He finished with six strikeouts in the 17-6 victory.

Misiorowski is the first starting pitcher that began their MLB career with 11 hitless innings since 1900 and the only pitcher since then to have more wins than hits allowed, two wins to one hit.

MLB Pipeline ranks Misiorowski as their No. 66 prospect in baseball and the fourth best prospect in the Brewers farm system.

Skenes himself had a great start to his career, with 18 strikeouts over his first two outings and finishing with the National League Rookie of the Year and third in NL Cy Young voting in 2024.

He learned a lot from his first season, dealing with the media and learning when to say no, and wants Misiorowski to realize that this hype will continue as long as pitches the way he does.

“Gotta protect yourself, for a lack of a better term," Skenes said. "Obviously with the media, but I’m assuming if he goes and walks around Milwaukee know, there’s probably going to be more people that recognize him and all of that. So if he does what he’s supposed to do and what everybody thinks he can do, it’s not going away anytime soon. Get used to it and find ways, find peace, that kind of thing with it.”

Skenes and Misiorowski talked the day prior to their game against each other, meeting for the first time.

The two almost played at LSU In 2023, as Skenes transferred there from Air Force and Misiorowski committed there as a part of the Class of 2022, but signed with the Brewers for $2.35 million when they selected him with the 63rd pick in the second round of the 2022 MLB Draft.

Skenes went on and had an excellent season for the Tigers, with a 13-2 record in 19 starts, 1.69 ERA in 122.2 innings, giving up just 23 earned runs and seven earned runs, while notching 209 strikeouts to just 20 walks, leading the program to a national title that season.

He enjoyed his time with Misiorowski, as they bonded over their LSU knowledge and he wonders what they've would've achieved together at the school if they pitched together.

“Win the National Championship in two less games maybe? Yeah, I don’t know," Skenes said. "That would’ve been fun though, just being around him every day. We had an awesome pitching staff. One of our other guys has already debuted from that team and it’s kind of fun to think about the “What if?” stuff there, but cool that we get to share a field now.”