Roslyn native training MLB’s future

Eugene Bleecker’s 108 Performance in Knoxville, Tenn. spits out professional baseball prospects

BY BRANDON DUFFY

During the 2023 Major League Baseball draft held in Seattle Sunday, the Pittsburgh Pirates selected Paul Skenes with the first overall pick.

The 21-year-old right-hander, who is 6 feet 6 inches tall and weighs 247 pounds, just completed his junior season at Louisiana State University whose baseball team finished the season with a national championship at the College World Series in Omaha, NE, earlier this year.

Skenes led the Tigers’ rotation all year and into the postseason, amassing a 13-2 win-loss record, 1.69 earned run average and 335 strikeouts through 235 innings pitched.

However, before Skenes first took the mound in Baton Rouge — or the U.S. Air Force Academy where he began his collegiate career — the California native worked at 108 Performance, a baseball and research training center, starting in 2017.

“With Paul, I saw sometime during the first or second year that he was just different,” said Eugene Bleecker, a Williston Park and Roslyn Heights native and owner of 108 Performance, now in Knoxville, TN. “He just did everything he was supposed to do to get the best of his ability.” with Bleecker. Troy was selected by the Arizona Diamondbacks with the 12th overall pick.