PHOTO BY HARRISON BARDEN/PITTSBURGH PIRATES

Pitcher Paul Skenes has to be seen to be believed.

And heard.

To fully appreciate the impact Skenes has already had in a little over a month in the big leagues, and to fully grasp the anticipation and the expectation he’s delivered to the long-suffering Pirates one 100-mph fastball at a time, you need to open your ears as well as your eyes.

If you do, you might hear a little league team gleefully bounding into PNC Park, as was the case on Monday night, with half the kids shouting “Paul” and the other half responding “Skenes” with relentless enthusiasm and repetition on the way to their seats (many of those kids were wearing fake mustaches, by the way, just in case the chanting of Skenes’ name wasn’t a sufficient tribute to their newfound hero).

@pirates POV: Paul Skenes is pitching at home #mlb #baseball #pirates #skenes ♬ original sound – Pittsburgh Pirates

You might notice the distinctive “pop” that’s audible even on the ballpark’s second level when another one of Skenes’ ludicrous-speed fastballs misses the bat and explodes into the catcher’s mitt.

And you’ll undoubtedly recognize the rhythmic applause that begins to bubble, right on cue now, whenever Skenes achieves another two-strike count, which he does with remarkable regularity.

The collective outpouring of what seems to be equal parts adulation and gratitude that acknowledges a Skenes’ exclamation point, meanwhile, whether it be his latest strikeout or a triumphant walk off the mound after yet another scoreless inning, is impossible to miss.

As the immortal Mike Lange might have observed were he still calling Pirates games and if he was of a mind to incorporate one of his more memorable Penguins catch phrases, “You have to be here to believe it.”

Now that Skenes is here it is easy to believe the hype that preceded him.

Last July, when the Pirates drafted Skenes first overall, he was, in the estimation of MLB Network analyst Harold Reynolds, “a perfect pick.”

ESPN analyst Chris Burke took the superlatives even further, maintaining Skenes was a player you could “build a statue for.”

A little less than a year later, Skenes is showing us what that looks like.

And what it sounds like.

Skenes is 4-0 with a 2.29 ERA, he’s struck out 53 and walked seven through his first seven Major League starts. He punctuated his latest dominant outing by picking Cincinnati’s Elly De La Cruz, one of the most feared base-stealers in the game, off of first base. Skenes then darted off the mound to field a swinging bunt and register his final out on what became a bang-bang play at first base on Monday night.

The kids with the fake mustaches might not have appreciated that as much as Skenes’ seven strikeouts, but it was the type of athletic play a lot of pitchers can’t make.

What’s even more intriguing is the Pirates are 6-1 in Skenes’ seven starts (the one loss occurred after Skenes had left a game on May 23 against San Francisco with a 5-1 lead through six innings) and 19-16 overall since Skenes first appeared on a Major League mound on May 11.

It hasn’t all been about Skenes since then.

Mitch Keller reminded us as again on Wednesday that he, too, is an ace.

Skenes’ fellow rookie, Jared Jones, has flashed ace stuff and ace potential more often than not all season.

And the back end of the bullpen has been of late and should continue to be good enough to finish what the starters start.

But the difference with Skenes is his almost intoxicating upside.

He’s already been better than advertised, which, given the aforementioned hype, is quite an accomplishment in itself.

And he might just be scratching the surface of what he’ll be able to unleash on the rest of the Major Leagues eventually.

When he gets there, that’ll really be something to see.

And something to hear, with or without an accompanying fake mustache.