Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes plays catch at a Pittsburgh-area Little League practice

Some Pittsburgh-area Little Leaguers got the surprise of their lives on Monday night.

That’s because Pirates star pitcher Paul Skenes saw the lights on at Vestal Field in McCandless as Ingomar Franklin Park Little League players were practicing.

“Games were just getting done. Kids were running around the field,” Kevin Wozniak said. “Scrimmage was starting here. Then out of nowhere, Paul Skenes.”

Skenes had pulled over and went on to play catch and give advice for two hours, Wozniak, a dad who was at the practice, told Channel 11.

“I think everyone thought we were seeing things,” Wozniak said. “Pretty much in awe. Lots of ‘is that really Paul Skenes?’ And it was.”

Skenes showed Wozniak’s son Henry his favorite grips and played plenty of catch with the crowd of kids.

“I was acting like I was the pitcher and Paul was the catcher and I struck Ohtani out,” Ben Wozniak said.

Skenes also signed anything the kids put in front of him... like Ben’s shoe.

“Signing bats. Helmets. Signing the forehead. I think one random forehead there as well. Hope his wrist isn’t too tired from all the autographs he gave to the kids last night,” Kevin said.

One kid even asked Skenes why he stopped by.

“He was very frank,” Kevin recalled. “He said he was driving down the road. I saw the lights on, and I was bored. He came without any fanfare, without any cameras following him. He just came because he loved the game. And he came because he saw kids that loved the sport as much as he does and being able to have the kids have that experience with someone of that greatness is just an amazing thing.”

Skenes was on the phone with his girlfriend, Olivia Dunne, when he walked over to the field. She posted a snippet of the video captioned “remembering your MLB boyfriend is just a boy because what do you mean he saw a Little League team practicing while driving home and pulled over to show me and play catch with them.”

The video is going viral, and in the comments, parents are sharing photos and saying just how much the visit meant to their kids.

“This is my kids’ league - this meant so much to so many people tonight. Can’t even tell you how many of our friends are posting pics of their kids looking like it’s Christmas morning. What a good human,” one comment said.

This all happened the night before Skenes is expected to pitch against the reigning World Series Champions, the Dodgers, at PNC Park.

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