Top 10 best Draft pitching prospects ever

Paul Skenes just completed one of the most memorable college pitching seasons ever.

Skenes led Louisiana State to a national championship and won Most Outstanding Player honors at the College World Series after earning Southeastern Conference pitcher of the year accolades. He topped NCAA Division I in strikeouts (209, eclipsing Ben McDonald’s SEC and school records), strikeouts per nine innings (15.3) and WHIP (0.75) while ranking second in victories (12), ERA (1.69) and opponent average (.165).

“The only reason to not take Skenes No. 1 is philosophical, because you won’t take a pitcher,” a national crosschecker said. “I’m taking Skenes. The size, the command, the velocity, the slider, the way he pitches with the good killer instinct … It’s hard to pass on that.”

Without a doubt, Skenes is the best pitching prospect in this year’s Draft. The question is, is he the best ever since MLB introduced its Draft in 1965?

There have been several pitchers who laid claim to that title during the nearly six decades of the Draft, but Stephen Strasburg essentially retired the debate in 2009. Until now.

To that point, no Draft prospect ever had been hyped as much as Strasburg was 14 years ago, and he lived up to it. After striking out 23 in a single game against Utah and becoming the lone collegian to make the U.S. Olympic team in 2008, he destroyed college hitters in 2009. He pitched San Diego State to the NCAA regionals for the first time in 18 seasons, spun a no-hitter in his final home game and led D-I in ERA (1.32), strikeouts (195), strikeout rate (16.1, the fourth-highest mark ever) and hits per nine innings (5.4).

Strasburg owned the best fastball and curveball in his Draft class, while Skenes features the top heater and slider in his. Both of them reached 102 mph – Strasburg did so in an era where no one else could – and both flashed a plus changeup that they rarely needed while posting nearly as many wins as walks. The 6-foot-6, 235-pound Skenes is taller and more physical than the 6-foot-4, 220-pound Strasburg was.

We’ve spent the spring asking veteran scouts whether Skenes has seized Strasburg’s throne. It’s a close call and both have their proponents.

“I think Skenes has a better fastball and command and Strasburg has better secondary pitches,” a special assistant said. “The big separator is Skenes has much cleaner arm action and less effort to his delivery.”

“Skenes is absolutely on the short list but is he the best pitcher I’ve ever scouted? I don’t know that I can quite say that,” countered a vice president of player personnel. “His stuff is right there with Strasburg and he’s a very good athlete for a big guy. But Strasburg is the best pitcher I’ve ever scouted because he pitched better.”

“They’re tough to compare in some ways,” a vice president of scouting said. “I would lean Strasburg, who was throwing 100 mph when nobody was, and he could spot it up on the edges of the plate. I thought his fastball played a little better,…