Paul Skenes Hits Major Financial Milestone as Result of Rookie of the Year Win

Skenes will now hit his big payday one year sooner, which is a big deal for both him and the Pirates.

Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitcher Paul Skenes (30) delivers a pitch against the Chicago Cubs during the first inning at PNC Park on Aug 28. / Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images

Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitcher Paul Skenes won the National League Rookie of the Year Award on Monday night, helping himself financially in the process.

As a result of his win, Skenes received a full year of service time despite not playing enough games to actually earn it on the field. This is all part of the most recent collective bargaining agreement and is designed to help major league ready players get to the big leagues sooner.

MLBTradeRumors did a great job taking the complex system and breaking it down:

If a player is on certain top 100 prospect lists and is promoted early enough in the season to earn a full service year, that player can earn his club a bonus draft pick depending on awards voting. On the flip side, if such a player is not promoted early enough to get a full year but managed to finish top two in Rookie of the Year voting regardless, that player earns himself a full year of service retroactively.

Had Skenes been promoted earlier in the year, this award would have netted the Bucs an extra draft pick. But since he was held down into May, they were not eligible to receive that pick. Skenes, on the other hand, will now have a full year of service time.

This means he'll hit free agency one year earlier and will be in line for a big payday one year earlier.

Skenes beat out Jackson Merrill (San Diego Padres) and Jackson Chourio (Milwaukee Brewers) for his award, becoming the fifth former No. 1 draft pick to win Rookie of the Year honors.

Skenes finished his rookie season at 11-3 with that 1.96 ERA. He struck out 170 batters in just 133.0 innings and looked every bit the part of an ace moving into 2025. Skenes made his major league debut in early May after just a handful of minor league starts and instantly made his presence felt. With Skenes and Jared Jones, the Pirates and their fans finally look to have some optimism moving forward.

Luis Gil of the New York Yankees won the Rookie of the Year Award on the American League side.

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