The long awaited and much anticipated Pirates’ debut of pitcher Paul Skenes is happening this weekend.

The 6-foot-6, 235-pound Skenes is getting the ball on Saturday when the Bucs host the Chicago Cubs at 4:05 p.m. If that game doesn’t sell out, it’s going to come close.

Skenes is not only a big guy. He’s the next big thing in baseball right now. Some are already referring to him as the guy who will lift the Pirates into playoff contention. CBS Sports is calling the Skenes-Jared Jones pitching combo as the third-best in the major leagues right now.

He’s been called an instant Rookie of the Year candidate, a Cy Young Award winner within the next three years and one of the baseball’s best pitcher in decades.

Uhh ... Can we slow this down a little bit?

Can we allow the man to throw an inning in a major league game first?

I get it, the numbers he put up during his final season at LSU and through seven starts at Class AAA Indianapolis have created quite the buzz. Skenes was 13-2 with a 1.69 earned run average, 209 strikeouts and only 20 walks in 122.2 innings pitched during his final season in college.

In his seven Class AAA starts, he fashioned a 0.99 earned run average, 45 strikeouts and eight walks in 27.1 innings pitched.

Now he’s going to be dealing to major league hitters.

This guy throws his fastball more than 100 miles per hour quite often. He has a nasty slider and sinker to go with it.

But Major League Baseball is a level like no other.

Skenes may very well go out there, strike out a dozen in six innings, allow a couple of hits and bring the house down.

He may also work four innings, get nicked for two or three runs while striking out five before calling it a day.

We shall see.

Stephen Strasburg struck out 14 Pirates in his memorable major league debut. This may be the most anticipated debut of a big league pitcher since then.

Obviously, we wish Skenes well.

But he’s still developing as a professional pitcher. He’s going to hit some bumps along that journey. We all need to be patient in that regard.

Butler boys volleyball coach Lew Liparulo was surprised by an alumni night in his honor prior to the Tornado’s 3-2 win over Seneca Valley on Thursday.

This man has been the only head coach in Butler boys volleyball’s 30-year history. He has 48 years in of coaching the sport overall. At age 71, he’s far from done as he’s taking over as Laurel High School’s girls volleyball coach in the fall.

Liparulo is now coaching some children of athletes he used to coach.

His lengthy career continues. And my hat is off to him.

John Enrietto is sports editor of the Butler Eagle