Paul Skenes has his worst start ever, a breakdown
What Happened
Now, before we get into this video, O'Neal Cruz is having an amazing start to the year and he also just scored a bunch of runs in the next Paul Sche start, but I edited this after opening day and then it got pushed because of all the better breakdowns that came out. But I put a lot of time editing it.
Why This Matters
Paul Skenes just had his worst outing ever and it's honestly kind of wild to watch unfold. O'Neal Cruz was absolutely crushing it to start the season, but this game was a total disaster for him in Skenes's start, and we're breaking down every painful detail of how it all went sideways.
This breakdown pulled in 208K views and landed at #998 all-time, showing there's always an audience for watching star players have absolutely brutal days.
Key Moments
Who / What Is Involved
Players: Paul Skenes, O'Neal Cruz.
Full Transcript
Click timestamps to jump to that momentNow, before we get into this video,
O'Neal Cruz is having an amazing start
to the year and he also just scored a
bunch of runs in the next Paul Sche
start, but I edited this after opening
day and then it got pushed because of
all the better breakdowns that came out.
But I put a lot of time editing it. So,
we're going to walk through it. This is
the no good, very bad, not fun day that
O'Neal Cruz had on opening day in
Skins's start. It opened with a full
count walk to Lindor. So, that's SK
owning. And then Sodto jam shot floats
it in there. O'Neal Cruz takes it and
they go first to third on him and he's
not happy about that. Kind of close. Now
that's not really anything damaging or
terrible for O'Neal Cruz, but you can
see they show him in the field after and
he's kind of bummed about it. He's like,
"Damn, ran on me. I would have rather
you didn't do that or I would have
rather I threw you out." But Lindor did
take a glove to the face for doing this.
So, I included the replay of that
because it kind of sucks for him. He
slides in and gets his hand in there and
then takes a glove right to the bottom
of the chin. Uh, right to the pucker
they say. All right, next batter. Little
tapper, just a swinging bunt. Skins
comes up. Can't throw it anywhere. So,
it's just been a no good start. And then
we have another walk. So, that is going
to load the bases. One run is scored,
bases are loaded, and we've got a deep
hit to O'Neal Cruz who came in on it.
And then it's over his head. That's
going to clear the bases and be a
triple, which is not great. And the
optics are horrible on the route he ran.
The fans love it. Double high five,
perfect contact. Skins doesn't love it.
He's upset. He's like, "That could have
been uh better if it was an out." And
you can see him break in and then it
goes over his head. I was interested. I
love looking at the metrics. So, I went
and I found all other balls. Uh, sun's
in his eyes. But that's where he's like,
"The sun's in my eyes." But would that
affect running in? I don't know if that
would affect running in. I found every
other ball in the last couple years
that's been hit uh at the same ballpark,
same launch angle, same exit velocity,
and landed in the same area. None of
them have been caught. None of them have
gone for a triple. All of them doubles,
but none of them have been caught. So
that is like a little nice caveat for
O'Neal Cruz. The only problem they were
all playing right center and when I show
all of them at once, O'Neal Cruz was
actually positioned perfectly like the
best. So I think he had a a very good
chance to catch this. So I overlaid all
their starting positions. You can kind
of see them faintly and flickering. But
O'Neal Cruz is in the black jersey all
the way to the left and you got everyone
else who's playing way to the right or
just center. So they get better jumps.
They can't reach the ball. He could have
reached his had he taken a better route.
So that's no fun. And then the very next
batter is going to float one into the
sky. This one has never been not caught
in the history of the venue, but not
caught there. Sun in his eyes. Another
run scores. And another run gets into
scoring position. Ski is not having fun.
Cruz is not having fun. He's going to
look back up at the sun. Ske is going to
be like, "What is going on?" Uh, nobody
look at me. This stinks. And we got to
look at uh I look like look looking at
Ske's reaction here as he watches it.
And he just like a little like
And then that's all. So that's decent.
It did ruin his whole day and his season
stats. He'll overcome it. But yeah, that
is good jump. And then just uh blinded
blinded by the light. You can actually
see it glowing on his face. So, it just
hasn't been a fun time for O'Neal Cruz.
Like I said, I edited this before. He
has redeemed himself in a lot of ways.
This was just a bad first day. It
happens. He's shaking his head. He's
like, "Well, you know what? I'll just go
and I'll mash." And that's fine. And
that's fine. I'll get on base. I'll do
my part. It's still close game. And the
next at bat 3-2 pitch, he's like,
"Great. I got my walk." They tap on him.
And then they go to this jumbotron and
then No, I just It's a walk. Don't even
look at it. Oh, never mind. I'm out and
I'm part of history. The first
successful ABS challenge. My name part
of it. Damn. His next at bat, another
two strike pitch. I'll just hit this
ball instead. Throws the bat into the
crowd. It's like now I'll I'll I'll
leave and I and I don't even have my bat
anymore. And I really like that bat.
Scared the hell out OF THIS KID. OH.
AND THEN EVERYONE ELSE ducked for cover
nicely. Is that Cohen
owner to the right there? Looks like his
buddies got scared and he didn't. Wow.
Even is that four Steve Cohens? Is this
something to make people not, you know,
like when like decoy trucks, you know,
you rob a little Italian job. You got
four Mini Coopers. Like is he he's got
three decoys so he doesn't get followed
around the stadium. I didn't notice this
when I put this together, but that's a
uniform. That's four Steve Cohens.
And the real Steve Cohen did not get
scared. That's how you know. Everyone
like these guys ducking for cover. I
don't know if they can be in the decoy
anymore. Guy on the right.
Okay. Anyway, on New York, that's the
end of his bad day. Well, more of it
happened, but yeah, that was the video I
put together after this. And then he
started doing better, but I didn't want
I didn't want it to just go in the
garbage. So, there you go. There you go.
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