2025 NL Cy Young frontrunner names SF Giants legend Barry Bonds as his toughest at-bat

Who would be Paul Seknes' toughest at-bat? The 2025 NL Cy Young frontrunner went outside of today's game and named SF Giants legend Barry Bonds as the toughest hitter he would face from any era.

2025 NL Cy Young frontrunner names SF Giants legend Barry Bonds as his toughest at-bat

Skenes joined On Base with Mookie Betts last week and was asked about his toughest opponent. Rather than name someone he has faced, the two-time NL All-Star speculated that Bonds would be his toughest matchup.

There are about 762 reasons why Bonds would be Skenes' toughest matchup. Skenes went on to joke about how Bonds was pitched to during his era, which is to say, with extreme caution.

The left-handed slugger would see one or two good pitches each game, and he would often take advantage. If a pitch floated into the strike zone, it was usually a mistake. Hall of Famer Chipper Jones shared a funny story about this.

Teams would pitch around Bonds. It is why he holds the all-time records with 2,558 walks. This includes 688 intentional walks, which is also an MLB record by a lot. Albert Pujols is second in that category with 316 intentional walks.

In addition to hitting a lot of home runs, Bonds reached base at a high rate. Overall, he put up a .444 on-base percentage. In his final season, he had a .480 on-base percentage. That remains the highest full-season on-base percentage since he retired.

Many elements of Bonds' career may never be replicated, but one is how teams in the NL West supplemented their bullpens around the 14-time NL All-Star. Later in his career, every team in the division had at least one Bonds specialist in the bullpen. That was a left-handed, sidearm-reliever like Mike Myers. No, not that one. Bonds did not have a weakness in his game, but that style of pitcher was often a challenge.

Speaking of challenges, it would be a sight to see Bonds go up against Paul Skenes. Would it be anything like Bonds' matchup against Éric Gagné? That would be anotherone for the history books.

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