Skenes vs. Jones was 'a Major League game in high school'

Brandon Rho remembers being told that the game was going to be fierce.

La Mirada – a city in southeast Los Angeles County – had been growing as a baseball program for years, and the baseball team recently made the jump to Division II. Their season opener against El Toro – located in Lake Forest in nearby Orange County – would be a proving ground to show that they belonged in that higher tier.

El Toro had produced three Major League players in recent years: Nolan Arenado, Matt Chapman and Austin Romine. In the previous 20 years before this matchup in 2018, La Mirada had been league champs 16 times. El Toro had won its league in nine of 11 seasons from 2007-17. Scouts, college recruiters and fans of the southern California baseball scene knew this was the type of game to pay attention to.

“Historically, when we play El Toro, it’s gonna be a good game,” La Mirada head coach Jimmy Zurn said. “It’s ridiculous how good these kids are.”

El Toro knew not to overlook their opponent either. The two schools played the year before, and La Mirada pulled off the upset, in part because a freshman closer wowed to end the game. This time around, that closer would start.

“He was the talk of our area of how good he is and how talented he is and how good he’s gonna be and how hard he throws,” El Toro coach Mike Gonzales said. “We were excited to face him.”

El Toro also had a new stud in their lineup, one who Gonzales had known for years but was now finally a freshman. These two young players were just at the start of their baseball journeys, but were both projected for bigger and better things. Years later, the two opponents would wind up being teammates.

On this day, though, Jared Jones and Paul Skenes were each other’s competition.

“It felt like a Major League game in high school,” Rho, La Mirada’s left fielder, said.

*****

As the Pirates enter the 2025 season, much of the excitement around the club stems from the two young pitchers at the top of their rotation: Jones and Skenes.

Jones was the first pitcher this current Pirates regime selected in the Draft after they took over in the autumn of 2019. A hard-throwing competitor, Jones wowed in Spring Training last year to earn a rotation spot, and with his high-90s fastball and wipeout slider, he firmly established himself as a major player in the rotation for years to come.

Skenes needs no introduction at this point. The reigning National League Rookie of the Year finished in the top three of Cy Young voting as a rookie despite not being promoted to the Majors until mid-May of his first full professional season. From inventing a new hybrid pitch – the splitter-sinker “splinker” – to firing 100 mph fastballs by hitters, he’s positioned to be one of the greats of his generation.

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The two became fast friends during their rookie season in 2024, as well as faces of the organization. Billed as the “Allegheny Electric Company” and the “Hundo Boys” by Rob Friedman (the Pitching Ninja) and Pat McAfee, respectively, the duo could be one of the most lethal pairings for years to come, especially when you mix in other high-level pitchers, like Mitch Keller and prospect Bubba Chandler.

“That’s a lot of fastballs,” Jones said with a smile during PiratesFest in January. “It will be fun.”

Demeanor-wise, Jones and Skenes are yin and yang. Jones pitches with a fire bubbling under the surface, not afraid to let out a roar if he ends a pivotal inning with a strikeout. It’s the way he’s always been on the mound, even at La Mirada.

“I can remember a couple accounts where he kept me in check and kept me accountable when I didn’t make a play,” Rho, two years Jones’ senior, said. “Something seniors would typically do to rookies. He was just that passionate about baseball, and that’s something you don’t see from a lot of guys, especially at the high school level.”

Skenes, conversely, is more even-keeled in demeanor, calm and collected, both on and off the mound. That’s also right in line with the person Gonzales has known for years. Their paths first crossed when Skenes was just 12 years old at a tryout for a 12-and-under camp, and he immediately left an impression.

“At that time he was like 6-foot at 12 [years old],” Gonzales said. “He had such a strong arm, such physical, raw power. ... He had some of the most raw power I’ve ever had come through El Toro. And we’ve had some pretty good ones.”

Skenes would not start pitching regularly until his junior year of high school, bouncing around the diamond his first couple years. For this first matchup, he was the starting third baseman, getting what Gonzales believes to be his first start at the high school level.

In reflection, it turned out to be a doozy.

*****

“It wasn’t the Paul Skenes, Jared Jones show at that time,” Gonzales would reflect.

No, at that time, the focus was on El Toro’s starting pitcher, Erik Tolman. The lefty was set to play ball at Arizona State and would eventually be selected by the Nationals in the 2021 Draft. For this game, though, a concession needed to be made. The game was rained out, and they would need to change venues to nearby JSerra Catholic High School since they had a turf field. The game was on, but some scouts and recruiters had other commitments and couldn’t attend.

Many of those scouts weren’t going to attend just for Tolman, though. Jones was already getting plenty of attention.

“Among the college commits, he was the cream of the crop,” Rho said. “Everyone on the team immediately knew he was probably going to make the Major Leagues.”

Jones was a sophomore and still developing on the mound. He also would not start throwing bullpens until December to preserve his arm, so he wasn’t in mid-season form yet in the early March matchup, which could explain why he walked five batters on the day.

But the talent was also there. Jones would start touching 97 mph on the radar gun his sophomore year, and even an experienced El Toro lineup had a hard time hitting him, striking out seven times that afternoon.

Two of those strikeouts came via Skenes, including one in the bottom of the sixth to strand the potential winning run in scoring position.

Skenes’ true baseball calling may have been as a pitcher, but he was quite the hitter in school and would be a two-way star at the Air Force Academy as a catcher and designated hitter. Jones would punch his ticket twice in this matchup, but Skenes also recorded his first high school hit that day, pouncing on a first-pitch fastball to right field for a single.

“He got a hit, I punched him out twice. Everybody wins,” Jones said with a grin, reflecting on the game in-season.

As Jones was able to tiptoe around some traffic, Tolman also posted zeros. Rho would have two hits on the day, but La Mirada could not muster much offensively.

Meanwhile, El Toro was starting to get to Jones late by being aggressive at the plate.

“I told them if they got a fastball, swing, because it might be the best pitch you get all day,” Gonzales said.

By Jones’ admission, that was a pretty good scouting report.

“It was just fastballs,” Jones chuckled. “I had a really bad slider and a really bad curveball in high school.”

Eventually, El Toro would break through in the bottom of the seventh. On Jones’ fourth trip through the order, the top of the lineup would string together four straight singles to win, with future Cardinals Draft pick Nathan Church dropping a walk-off hit to right field on Jones’ 96th pitch of the game.

Jones claims he can count on one hand how many times he lost in high school: Twice his freshman year, then once every other year. Zurn would pitch him in the biggest matchups, and those losses would usually end up being low-scoring affairs. As far as his scholastic losses went, this was right in line.

“Jared threw an absolute gem,” Rho said. “We just couldn’t back him up.”

*****

La Mirada and El Toro would go on to repeat as league champs again in 2018 but haven’t played each other since. El Toro now has another name to add to their list of alumni who has reached the Majors, and La Mirada has continued to grow as a local powerhouse, in part thanks to Jones.

“If there’s one thing about La Mirada, they love their sports,” Zurn said. “Jared’s that hometown hero kid right now.”

Neither Gonzales nor Zurn can think of another matchup quite like that game in 2018 when two opposing players would go on to become Major League teammates. And just like they are making their mark in the Majors, they left their mark in their hometowns.

“Pride, it’s an understatement,” Zurn said. “From a coach standpoint, that’s what it’s all about.”