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  • Jeff Passan, ESPNMay 8, 2024, 04:57 PM ET

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      ESPN MLB insider
      Author of “The Arm: Inside the Billion-Dollar Mystery of the Most Valuable Commodity in Sports”

The Pittsburgh Pirates are calling up star prospect Paul Skenes, and the hard-throwing right-hander is expected to debut Saturday at PNC Park against the Chicago Cubs.

Considered the best pitching talent in a generation, 21-year-old Skenes will arrive in Pittsburgh after dominating Triple-A, allowing three earned runs in 27⅓ innings and striking out 45 batters.

After one of the finest seasons ever for a college pitcher, Skenes went to the Pirates with the No. 1 pick in the July 2023 draft and signed for $9.2 million, the largest bonus for an amateur in baseball history. Pittsburgh limited his workload after a taxing junior season at LSU in which he struck out 209 hitters and walked just 20 in 122⅔ innings while going 13-2 with a 1.69 ERA.

Although evaluators believed Skenes to be major-league-ready when Pittsburgh drafted him, the Pirates entered 2024 wanting to build him up slowly and avoid a potential midseason pullback on his innings. By limiting Skenes’ pitch count in the minor leagues — he hasn’t thrown more than 75 pitches in a Triple-A start this year — the Pirates hope he can join a rotation that also includes hard-throwing rookie Jared Jones for the remainder of the season.

How to handle elite pitching prospects has long been a mystery for front offices, particularly with the proliferation of arm injuries to hard-throwing starters this season. The two closest facsimiles to Skenes in terms of college production and major league readiness were Washington Nationals right-hander Stephen Strasburg and Cubs right-hander Mark Prior, both of whom were brilliant for flashes in the big leagues but ultimately had their careers shortened by arm injuries.

At 6-foot-6 and 235 pounds, Skenes assumes the mantle as the hardest-throwing starter in the game — and perhaps the highest-velocity rotation member in baseball history. At Triple-A Indianapolis, Skenes’ four-seam fastball has reached over 102.1 mph. He also mixed in a splinker — a combination splitter and sinker thrown by Minnesota Twins closer Jhoan Duran — at 95 mph, complemented it with a slider in the mid-to-high 80s, added a softer changeup that runs at 88 mph, and occasionally turned to a slower curve.

Although the Pirates currently occupy last place in the National League Central, that is due more to their hitting woes than to their strong set of arms. Few starters in the NL have been as impressive as 22-year-old Jones, and with Skenes joining veterans Mitch Keller, Martin Perez and Bailey Falter, the Pirates now have arguably the best rotation in the division.

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Sovereignty outduels Journalism to capture Derby

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1 hour ago

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May 4, 2025

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Sovereignty outduels Journalism to capture Derby

  • ESPN News Services

May 3, 2025, 07:18 PM ET

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Sovereignty outdueled 3-1 favorite Journalism down the stretch to win the 151st Kentucky Derby in the slop on Saturday.

Trainer Bill Mott won his first Derby in 2019, also run on a sloppy track, when Country House was elevated to first after Maximum Security crossed the finish line first and was disqualified after a 22-minute delay.

This time, he knew right away.

Sovereignty won by 1½ lengths and snapped an 0-for-13 Derby skid for owner Godolphin, the racing stable of Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.

It was quite a weekend for the sheikh. His filly, Good Cheer, won the Kentucky Oaks on Friday and earlier Saturday, Ruling Court won the 2,000 Guineas in Britain.

Sovereignty covered 1¼ miles in 2:02.31 and paid $17.96 to win at 7-1 odds.

Journalism found trouble in the first turn and jockey Umberto Rispoli moved him to the outside. He and Sovereignty hooked up at the eighth pole before Sovereignty and jockey Junior Alvarado pulled away.

Baeza was third, Final Gambit was fourth and Owen Almighty finished fifth.

Rain made for a soggy day, with the Churchill Downs dirt strip listed as sloppy and horse racing fans protecting their fancy hats and clothing with clear plastic ponchos.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Zilisch to miss Xfinity race in Texas after wreck

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4 hours ago

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May 3, 2025

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Zilisch to miss Xfinity race in Texas after wreck

  • Associated Press

Apr 30, 2025, 07:23 PM ET

FORT WORTH, Texas — Connor Zilisch, the 18-year-old driver already with two NASCAR Xfinity Series race wins, will miss Saturday’s race at Texas because of lower back injuries sustained in a last-lap wreck at Talladega.

Trackhouse Racing said Wednesday that its development driver will return as soon as possible to the No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet. The team didn’t provide any additional details about Zilisch’s injuries.

Cup Series regular Kyle Larson will drive the No. 88 in Texas. After that, the Xfinity Series has a two-week break before racing again May 24 at Charlotte.

Zilisch, sixth in points through the first 11 races, was driving for the win at Talladega Superspeedway when contact on the backstretch sent his car spinning, and head-on into inside wall.

Zilisch won in his Xfinity debut at Watkins Glen last Sept. 14. He added another win this year at Austin, the same weekend that he made his Cup Series debut. He has six top-10 finishes in his 15 Xfinity races.

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23XI, Front Row ask judge to toss NASCAR claim

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4 hours ago

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May 3, 2025

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23XI, Front Row ask judge to toss NASCAR claim

  • Associated Press

Apr 30, 2025, 07:08 PM ET

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The two teams suing NASCAR asked a judge to dismiss the sanctioning body’s counterclaim in court Wednesday.

In a 20-page filing in district court in North Carolina, 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports opposed NASCAR’s motion to amend its original counterclaim. The teams argued that the need to amend the counterclaim further demonstrates the weakness of NASCAR’s arguments, calling them an attempt by NASCAR to distract and shift attention away from its own unlawful, monopolistic actions.

NASCAR’s counterclaim singled out Michael Jordan’s longtime business manager, Curtis Polk. Jordan is co-owner of 23XI Racing.

The legal battle began after more than two years of negotiations on new charter agreements — NASCAR’s equivalent of a franchise model — and the 30-page filing contends that Polk “willfully” violated antitrust laws by orchestrating anticompetitive collective conduct in connection with the most recent charter agreements.

23XI and Front Row were the only two organizations out of 15 that refused to sign the new agreements, which were presented to the teams last September in a take-it-or-leave-it offer a mere 48 hours before the start of NASCAR’s playoffs.

The charters were fought for by the teams ahead of the 2016 season and twice have been extended. The latest extension is for seven years to match the current media rights deal and guarantee 36 of the 40 spots in each week’s field to the teams that hold the charters, as well as other financial incentives. 23XI and Front Row refused to sign and sued, alleging NASCAR and the France family that owns the stock car series are a monopoly.

NASCAR already has lost one round in court in which the two teams have been recognized as chartered organizations for the 2025 season as the legal dispute winds through the courts. NASCAR has also appealed a judge’s rejection of its motion to dismiss the case.

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