You may not believe what Pirates' Skenes does before starts

Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes. Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images

You may not believe what Pirates star Paul Skenes does before starts

By Eric Smithling | Last updated Mar 25, 2025 6:32 PM ET

Before taking the mound, Pirates ace Paul Skenes goes to war.

On Tuesday, The Ringer's Hannah Keyser shared a profile of the 2024 National League Rookie of the Year, and one of the more fascinating tidbits came when Keyser shared Skenes' unorthodox pregame ritual.

"Skenes prefers not to listen to much before he pitches, just podcasts or audiobooks," Keyser wrote.

In a separate social media post, Keyser noted that Civil War audiobooks are among his favorites to listen to before a start.

But if you’d rather not read that all allow me to at least spoil the most interesting thing I learned about Paul Skenes: he doesn’t listen to music before his starts, he listens to audiobooks about the Civil War.
— Hannah Keyser (@hannahrkeyser.bsky.social) March 25, 2025 at 8:25 AM

We aren't sure how, exactly, historical audiobooks put a world-class athlete like Skenes in the right mental headspace to perform at a high level, but it clearly works.

Last season, Skenes started 23 games, going 11-3. He posted a 1.96 earned run average (ERA), allowing 94 hits while striking out 170 batters in 133 innings. He was named the NL's All-Star Game starting pitcher, becoming the first rookie since Hideo Nomo (1995) to accomplish the feat.

Per ESPN Bet, Skenes (+250) is the favorite to win the 2025 NL Cy Young Award.

Skenes was the No. 1 overall pick of the 2023 MLB Draft after leading LSU to a College World Series title in June of that year.

He has a deep military background, with two uncles in the Navy and another in the Coast Guard. After high school, Skenes committed to the Air Force, where he played two seasons (2021-22).

Last year, USA Today MLB reporter Bob Nightengale wrote that following his player career, Skenes plans to return to the military to "serve his country in some manner moving forward."

For a player as singularly talented as Skenes, it makes sense that his pregame ritual would be just as unique.

Eric Smithling

Eric Smithling is a writer based in New Orleans, LA, whose byline also appears on Athlon Sports. He has been with Yardbarker since September 2022, primarily covering the NFL and college football, but also the NBA, WNBA, men’s and women’s college basketball, NHL, tennis and golf. He holds a film studies degree from the University of New Orleans

More must-reads: