Paul Skenes high school coach on the LSU stars success: Im not surprised

Before he was lighting up radar guns with speeds north of 100 mph for LSU, Paul Skenes was flaunting light-tower power with his bat at El Toro High in Southern California.

He showed the kind of power Mike Gonzales had hardly ever seen from a high schooler — and Gonzales, the head coach of El Toro High for 23 years now, has seen some impressive bats come through his program. Matt Chapman, Nolan Arenado and Austin Romine are his program’s best exports, and none of them hit balls as hard in batting practice as Skenes did when he starred for Gonzales.

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“Out of those four guys, Paul had the most power in batting practice in high school,” Gonzales said when reached via phone this week. “Without a doubt, he could hit the ball farther at that time in high school than all three of those guys. It was a sight to see. It was pretty cool. It was fun to watch for the years I had him.”

These days, of course, it’s Skenes’ pitching that has earned him fame. The 6-foot-6, 247-pound fireballer is the front-runner of LSU’s rotation, a dazzling pitching prospect with a fastball that runs up past 100 mph and a strikeout rate of 46 percent. No one has helped his own draft stock more this year. He is likely to be the first pitcher selected in this summer’s upcoming MLB Draft.

Since his transfer to LSU from the Air Force Academy, where he split his time between hitting and pitching before deciding to put away his bats this year, Skenes has dialed up his fastball velocity and improved the effectiveness of his slider. His repertoire and his ability to hide the baseball well in his delivery have led him to a 1.77 ERA across 17 starts this season, a mark he will seek to improve when the College World Series begins this weekend.

GO DEEPER

From Air Force Academy to LSU: The factors that make Paul Skenes a top MLB Draft prospect

To get a peek into what Skenes is like, The Athletic reached out to Gonzales to talk about his time working with the LSU superstar. The conversation, condensed and lightly edited for clarity, follows.

What did you first see in Paul?

I actually saw Paul when he was 12 because he made the USA 12-U team and I was one of the evaluators who helped out with the four- or five-day tryout. … It’s funny. He’s exactly like he is now. He was taller than everybody, more physical than everybody. Could throw strikes, was easy out of his hand, was a physical baseball player at 12. He just looked different from all the other kids at 12.

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I read somewhere that he was 6-1 when he was a freshman in high school and then he hit his growth spurt.

I remember he was probably 6-1 and then, gosh, when he left, he was 6-7 or 6-whatever he is now. He came back in the offseason and, gosh, he looked even taller. We’ve had a couple of kids in the big leagues from our high school. Nolan and Matt and Austin Romine. And it’s weird. When those kids come back and they’re Major League Baseball players, they look massive. They’re just big human beings. When Paul came back, he looked, like, the same. He was just a massive human being.

Have you watched all of his starts for LSU?

Pretty much all of them. I’ve been able to watch most of them, either beginning, or end, or middle, or go back and watch them. That’s what he did in high school, too. It’s just really out of his hand. Everything they say about him is (fair). It’s out of his hand, he has good velocity, he’s got unbelievable control. Sometimes he’s almost around the plate too much. He’s so dialed in and he has such good command of his fastball and his changeup and slider and his two-seam. It’s been really cool to see. He’s always been like that. He’s always had great command of the strike zone and been able to throw a couple different pitches for a strike at any time in the count.

I’m not surprised by the success that he’s had. He’s just done a great job basically taking advantage of all the resources that LSU has. And also obviously him maturing physically and emotionally as a player, it’s really taken him to the level he is now. I think he has such a high ceiling. He’s always had a high ceiling. It was just a matter of him being able to take advantage of all the resources and the physical and emotional opportunities that he’s been able to experience.

So I’m guessing you wouldn’t say it’s a surprise how much success he’s had this year either?

No, not really. He’s that good. You never imagine — I mean you do, but you don’t. I get asked about Nolan Arenado. “Well, did you know that Nolan Arenado was going to be this guy in high school?” I knew he was gonna be really, really good. But you could never imagine that he was gonna be a Hall of Famer. But with Paul, nothing’s surprised me that he’s done. So for him to have the success in the SEC, I knew it’d be a challenge for him but I knew that he was good enough to compete at that level and also have tremendous success at that level. The big thing for me was if he can handle it emotionally, coming from the Air Force and being on the big stage. But I think the high school and the Air Force experience has really helped him emotionally and mentally as well. Just allowing him to relax himself and put him in a position to have success consistently. I think a lot of people underestimate the emotional part of it and the mental part of it, and I think that’s really pushed him over the edge as far as the success that he’s had.

What are some of your favorite memories of watching Paul in high school?

Oh man. Taking batting practice. He’s one of the guys that has probably hit the ball the farthest that we’ve ever had in our program, and we’ve had some pretty good hitters. To see him take batting practice is special. It’s a pretty cool experience seeing the ball fly like that as a high school player. And then also probably the one that sticks out the most is really one of his first starts. In the playoffs, his junior year before COVID-19, he threw a seven-inning shutout against a pretty good team. The velocity that he had, the command he had, and everything else that he had was just off the charts. It was a really cool thing to see. I don’t know if it surprised him but he was like, “Man, I think I can do this on a consistent basis.”

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What was his stuff like in high school? You talked about his command but tell me a little about his pitches.

He was pretty much the same guy that he is now. He threw a fastball, he threw a slider as well. He had a good changeup but probably used the slider more in high school because obviously with his velocity it was a pretty devastating pitch to hit. He was typically a fastball, slider guy in high school. But he had a changeup as well and I think he’s developed maybe a two-seam as well since he’s gone to college, just another pitch to have. He does a pretty good job with those four pitches.

Did you ever see him struggle at anything?

Only swinging a golf club. He wasn’t very good at playing golf. But as far as on the field, there wasn’t (much). When we played summer baseball, we put some kids in different positions. There were a couple games I put him at shortstop and he was probably our best shortstop. He’s a phenomenal athlete the way he moves and his size and so forth. And he loved it. He loved playing shortstop and third base. He could actually play anywhere.

What is the team that drafts him going to get from him?

They’re obviously gonna get a quality starting pitcher, but I think they’re gonna get a guy who’s going to be able to help their team. All this stuff on the field has shown, but the things behind the scenes as far as being diligent about his workouts, understanding that it’s a job for him, understanding that he needs to do the things necessary to make Paul Skenes successful. And he’s a bright kid, so he has a pretty good feel for what he needs to do as far as being successful. And when you’re that talented, there’s sometimes guys that are that talented because they have that physical gift. Paul not only has the physical gift, but he has the emotional and mental gift as well where he can be on his own and work’s gonna get done. He’s gonna take care of himself and he’s gonna do the right things and he’s gonna make good decisions. So he’s very mature beyond his years to where the club isn’t gonna have to worry about any off-the-field stuff. They know he’s gonna get his work done, and they’re gonna have a guy that’s gonna go out there every five days and have success.

(Photo: Matthew Hinton / Associated Press)

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