What started as a regular Little League practice in Pittsburgh turned into a memory Bryce Blewitt will likely carry for the rest of his life when Pirates ace Paul Skenes made a surprise stop at Vestal Field, home of Ingomar Franklin Park Little League.
The unplanned visit came when Skenes spotted kids practicing under the lights on his drive home and decided to pull over, join them on the field, play catch, sign autographs and spend time with players and families.
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For Bryce, the night quickly became even more memorable because of one hilarious choice that made him a viral sensation.
“It’s kind of crazy that, like, I just blew up,” Bryce said in the transcript, explaining that after a friend joked earlier in the day about his forehead, he figured, “Why not get that big space signed.”
How one surprise visit from Paul Skenes lit up a Pittsburgh ballfield
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The video of the Pirates star autographing Bryce’s forehead spread widely online, helping turn a neighborhood baseball moment into a Pittsburgh feel-good story. Bryce also used the moment to ask baseball questions only a young pitcher would think to ask.
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“If he had any advice for the young pitchers,” Bryce said, adding that he also asked how to recover after hitting a batter. Skenes’ answer stuck with him and was in simple Skenes delivery: “Just throw hard,” and “Just don’t hit the next batter.”
Bryce’s father, Brent, a coach of the Little League team, said what stood out most was not just that Skenes showed up, but how he treated every child there.
“To see a guy like that just step up, and I mean take his time out of his day to make a special moment for these kids,” Brent said.
“Honestly, like, I wish there were more people like Paul in the world.”
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The next night at PNC Park, Skenes went back to being the ace on the hill, holding the powerful Dodgers lineup to two runs over more than six innings before the bullpen let a 12–3 game get away; a reminder that even on nights when the final score tilts the wrong direction, his arm is already one of the most feared in baseball.
For Bryce and his Ingomar Franklin Park teammates, though, the box score will never matter as much as the night before, when that same arm was just a few feet away, signing a forehead, answering questions about hitting batters and turning a regular Little League practice into a story they will tell for the rest of their lives.
This story was created with the assistance of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Journalists were involved in every step of the information gathering, review, editing and publishing process. Learn more.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Paul Skenes’ surprise visit to Ingomar Franklin Park little leaguers
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