NEW YORK — Pittsburgh Pirates righthander Paul Skenes announced Tuesday his commitment to pitch for Team USA in the 2026 World Baseball Classic, giving the Americans the premier frontline starter they have struggled to recruit in recent tournaments.
Skenes is the second player to publicly reveal his intention to play for Team USA, joining New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge, who was named captain of the American squad last month. The team will be managed by former major leaguer Mark DeRosa for the second consecutive tournament. Team USA lost to Japan in the championship game in 2023.
Skenes, 22, is less than two years removed from being the No. 1 pick in the 2023 draft and one year removed from making his major-league debut last May. He was a junior at LSU, after beginning his college career at Air Force, during the last WBC in 2023. Landing him for 2026 represents a breakthrough for USA Baseball — and perhaps a shift in opinion among elite American starters.
With the WBC played during spring training and the possibility of injury terrifying clubs and pitchers alike, enlisting the best American starting pitchers to participate in the WBC has been a challenge. To illustrate: Thirteen American starting pitchers finished in the top 20 in ERA among qualifiers in 2022 and none of them pitched in the 2023 WBC the next spring.
“From a position player standpoint, I can probably fill out five lineups that want to do it,” DeRosa said when he introduced Judge as the team’s captain last month. “It’ll be the pitching that we have to lock down.”
On Tuesday, DeRosa secured a young top-flight ace off to a historically outstanding start to his major-league career. Skenes was dominant from the jump as a rookie, going 11-3 with a 1.96 ERA in 23 starts for the last-place Pirates. He started the All-Star Game for the National League, won the NL Rookie of the Year Award and finished third in NL Cy Young Award voting.
This season, Skenes is 3-4 with a 2.63 ERA in 54 ⅔ innings across nine outings for the Pirates, who are again in the NL Central basement and fired manager Derek Shelton last week. On Monday, Skenes held the New York Mets to one run with six strikeouts across six innings. It was the seventh time he’s logged at least six innings in a start this season.
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