Paul Skenes, Jared Jones Headline Pirates Rookie Rankings
The Pittsburgh Pirates boast one of the league's best duos in their rotation with rookie right-handed pitchers Paul Skenes and Jared Jones.
Skenes and Jones' performances helped land Pittsburgh atop Baseball America's rankings based on fWAR for rookie pitchers with a 7.2. In the overall fWAR that included position players, the Pirates finished No. 4 with an 8.3, trailing the Milwaukee Brewers (12.9), San Diego Padres (10.4), Washington Nationals (10.4) and Chicago Cubs (10.4). In pitchers' fWAR, the Nationals (6.3) and Athletics (6.7) were the only teams within one.
The Pirates' rookie position players had a 1.1 fWAR.
Along with Skenes' historic rookie season, Baseball America's Brendan Tuma highlighted how the former No. 1 overall pick still performed well in the second half despite having more trouble with his control.
"In the first half (min. 60 IP), he tied Garrett Crochet for the highest K-BB% in MLB. In the second half, he (gasp) ranked eighth!" Tuma wrote. "This highlights the importance of “zooming out” when deep-diving individual players, as Skenes still dominated despite slightly worse K/BB numbers."
Skenes was the first pitcher in MLB history to have an ERA below 2.20 and strike out over 150 batters in their first 21 appearances. He was also the first pitcher since 1913 to have an ERA below 2.00 through their first 22 appearances. The 2023 No. 1 overall pick went 11-3 with a 1.96 ERA and struck out a Pirates rookie record 170 batters over 133 innings across 23 starts pitched in his first big league season.
Jones didn't enjoy the same level of success, going 6-8 with a 4.14 ERA through 22 starts, though a right lat strain played a role in his struggles and cost him nearly two months of his season. Jones went 5-6 with a 3.56 ERA in his 16 starts before the All-Star break and 1-2 with a 5.87 ERA in his six starts afterward.
While his second-half struggles could be a cause for some concern, Tuma believes Jones can emerge as one of the league's better No. 2 starters if he finds the same level of control he had when he struck out 52 batters and walked just five and boasted a 2.63 ERA through his first seven starts.
"If he can perform at that level more consistently or avoid the walk troubles that surfaced in the middle of the summer, he’ll settle in as a high-end SP2 for the 2025 Pirates," Tuma wrote.
