All-Star Game Starting Pitcher Paul Skenes Plans To Serve In The Military After His MLB Career

From throwing bombs to flying bombers? Paul Skenes has a bright future ahead of him in MLB. The 21-year-old right-handed pitcher was chosen by the Pittsburgh Pirates as the top pick in last year’s draft, and he’s quickly lived up to all the hype he built up around himself in his college days at Air Force and LSU. The pitching phenom made his MLB debut against the Chicago Cubs earlier this year, and since then he's been registering triple digits on the radar gun consistently while racking up a 6-0 record as a starter in 11 games, with a 1.90 ERA and 89 strikeouts. In his last outing, Skenes even had a no-hitter going until he was pulled in the 7th inning , much to the disappointment of baseball fans. Adding to his already impressive rookie resume, Skenes was also named the NL starting pitcher for tonight's MLB All-Star Game. Oh, and he also happens to be dating one of the most popular college athletes in the world right now, LSU gymnast and influencer Olivia Dunne. Things are looking pretty good for Skenes right now. But everybody knows that athletes often have short shelf lives. The average career for an MLB player is just three years, and it's even less than that for pitchers, who are prone to injuries in their throwing arms that shorten their careers. Skenes has a pretty solid backup plan though. The pitcher started out his college baseball career at the Air Force Academy, but transferred to LSU after his sophomore season. The reason for the transfer was that if he had graduated from Air Force, he may have been required to serve five years of active duty before beginning his baseball career. But that doesn't mean that Skenes doesn't want to serve in the military. According to his Air Force coach Mike Kazlausky, the pitcher has expressed to him that he still plans to join the Air Force after his MLB career is over: "He will serve his country in some manner moving forward. It's just going to be a matter of when. Paul and I have spoken about that piece. We'll get him back in the military once his professional playing days are over. It’s a big deal for Paul to be able to serve our country." Skenes comes from a family with a long line of military service, with two uncles who served in the Navy and one in the Coast Guard. He initially entered the Air Force Academy with hopes of becoming an F-16 pilot. And it's a dream that he says he hasn't given up on: "Playing professional baseball was a dream of mine, but it wasn't the primary dream. Really, all I wanted to do was play college baseball and go somewhere and know that I had a good career lined up ahead of me, and Air Force was pretty much the perfect place for that." Well if he keeps up what he's doing in the MLB right now he might have to put off his military plans for a little longer - but good for Skenes for wanting to serve our country after his baseball career is over. Oh, and he's also got some pretty damn good taste in music. https://twitter.com/WhiskeyRiff/status/1781376317126053950