Paul Skenes exudes confidence as he breaks down striking out Shohei Ohtani & Mookie Betts

It isn't often that Shohei Ohtani and Mookie Betts go down on strikes to lead off an inning. That, however, was the case back on June 5, 2024, when each All-Star squared off against rookie right-hander Paul Skenes.

Six pitches later, there were two outs with both coming by way of the strikeout. He exuded confidence, rehashing the event in an interview about the masterclass showing on Tuesday.

Skenes would go on to have a storybook rookie campaign after going 9-4 with a 2.69 ERA, even better 2.44 FIP, and 170:32 strikeout-to-walk ratio over 133.0 total innings. The effort won him an invite to the All-Star Game, the NL Rookie of the Year Award and a third-place finish in NL Cy Young Award voting.

In his interview for the Slab Lab series with former MLB pitcher Dallas Braden, Paul Skenes provided baseball fans with a deep dive into his strategy for competing at the highest level. He shared insights on pitch selection, timing, deception and the pitch sequences that led to the impressive strikeouts.

"You face guys like Ohtani, Soto, Judge, you can't run from 'em, you gotta just get after them."

Paul Skenes took that mindset to the bump when he stared back at Betts to open the game. He painted the bottom of the zone with an untouchable 101 mph heater to get ahead, but wasn't impressed.

"Yas didn't catch it very well because I missed across the plate, but it was a strike," Skenes said.

The second offering to Betts was another 101 mph heater, this time top shelf and in. Ahead 0-2 and in the driver's seat, Skenes closed the at-bat with a wipeout slider that Betts waved at before calmly heading back to the dugout.

"Yeah, we went slider up. I was pretty amped up that game. Slider had some bite and got him. Just pitching my game."

Before breaking down the Ohtani at-bat, Braden asked Paul Skenes about his mindset when facing an opponent on equal footing. He was curious about the feeling of squaring off against another elite competitor in a high-stakes battle.

Yeah I mean, challenge him. See where he's at," Skenes replied.

That's exactly what he righty did against the reigning MVP, challenging Ohtani with a 101 mph fastball on the inner third for a swinging strike. Skenes then went inside and high, jamming Ohtani for another swinging whiff.

The epic at-bat ended quickly with some outside heat, sending Ohtani back to the dugout and earning Skenes' second of eight total strikeouts over five innings.

Oddsmakers peg Paul Skenes as 2025's Strikeout King

MLB: Pittsburgh Pirates at Cincinnati Reds - Source: Imagn

The Pittsburgh Pirates staff ace closed last season with a 33.07% K rate. A good rate clocks in at 25%. A great one is 30% or higher. Extrapolate what Paul Skenes was able to do in 2024 over the course of a full season, and you're left with extremely bullish expectations of what could possibly occur in 2025.

DraftKings Sportsbook is of the belief that it's a foregone conclusion, evidenced by Skenes' odds currently offered in the futures markets. He's the 4/1 favorite to tally the most strikeouts in the regular season, and is currently the only MLB pitcher to have odds on the board to tally 240 or more at +190.