Paul Skenes‘ offseason has looked nothing like the typical victory lap for a newly crowned NL Cy Young winner.
Instead of leaning into celebration mode, the Pittsburgh Pirates star has spent quieter days reconnecting with a part of his past many fans only vaguely remember existed.
Before he became the most overpowering pitcher of his generation, Skenes imagined himself wearing a different uniform entirely.
Growing up in a military family led him to start his college years at the Air Force Academy, and for a time he expected that path to shape the rest of his life. Baseball gradually pulled him in another direction, but the connection never really faded.
That might explain why Skenes and his girlfriend, Olivia Dunne, accepted an invitation to join a USO tour last week. The pair spent two days aboard the USS Gerald R. Ford and the USS Mahan, meeting sailors, walking the decks, and getting a brief look at the daily routines of those stationed at sea.
Afterward, Skenes spoke with People, and the trip appears to have settled a question he had quietly carried with him.
“I wouldn’t be able to go back to the Academy, I don’t think, as a cadet. It’s hard enough to start it once. I think it would be 10 times harder to start it a second time,” he said. “So I don’t know that I’ll go back in and be in the military.”
It was the most direct he has been about a future in service. For years, he kept the possibility alive, saying he hoped to return after his baseball career wound down. Now, with his major league trajectory climbing and the demands of military training still fresh in his memory, the idea feels more distant.
Dunne opens up about the idea of him serving
Dunne, who met Skenes at LSU and has watched his professional life accelerate at remarkable speed, offered her own perspective in the same interview. Her reaction was personal and immediate.
“I don’t know if I want to Paul the serve. I would miss him too much,” she said.
Her comment highlighted the emotional side of a decision often discussed only in terms of duty or sacrifice. Anyone who has followed the couple publicly knows the two value time together, and the idea of long deployments or military separation lands differently now that Skenes’ baseball career has taken off.
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