Paul Skenes may be as good at giving gifts as he is on the mound.
The Pirates phenom gave his girlfriend, LSU gymnast Olivia “Livvy” Dunne, a personalized Topps baseball card of her and their dog Roux.
Dunne, who turned 22 on Tuesday, took to Snapchat to show off her special gift.
“ELITE GIFT,” the post’s caption read.
On the back of the card, Skenes put some important Roux stats, including his birthday (June 29, 2023), his breed (English Retriever), his weight (55 pounds), his favorite activity (chewing sticks), his favorite human (Liv) and your favorite dish (steak).
Skenes also celebrated the occasion on Instagram, posting a photo of the couple.
“Happy birthday Liv!” he wrote.
The birthday festivities came just days after Skenes completed a historic rookie season for Pittsburgh.
The flame-throwing right-hander pitched 133 innings, striking out 170 batters with a 1.96 ERA.
Skenes also started in the National League All-Star Game and finished the season among the favorites to win the NL Rookie of the Year award.
Dunne recapped some of his favorite moments from his first season in the big leagues on Instagram last weekend, captioning the post “My little rookie.”
Skenes pitched his final game of the season at Yankee Stadium last Saturday, pitching two scoreless innings while Dunne watched from the stands.
“I’m really happy to be able to finish the season and cool to do it here, cool to do it against this team. I wish I could keep going, but that’s where we are,” Skenes said.
“I love New York, the Stadium is definitely one of baseball’s destinations, a place to cross off your bucket list. It’s cool to be out there and pitching. I will definitely continue checking it tomorrow.
