Pirates' Paul Skenes Earns Another Award
There's more hardware on the way for Pittsburgh Pirates ace Paul Skenes.
The flamethrowing right-handed pitcher was named Baseball Digest's National League Rookie of the Year, beating out San Diego Padres center fielder Jackson Merrill. Skenes earned nine of the 11 first-place votes and beat Merrill by seven points.
Baseball Digest's National League Rookie of the Year: Paul Skenes pic.twitter.com/nAMBkPIPTV
— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) November 7, 2024
Skenes, who was the first overall pick by the Pirates in the 2023 MLB Draft, entered the league as the most touted pitching prospect since Stephen Strasburg and lived up to those expectations and then some with his historic rookie season. Skenes went 11-3 with a 1.96 ERA across 23 starts and struck out a Pirates rookie-record 170 batters over 133 innings pitched.
Had Skenes been with Pittsburgh since the beginning of the season rather than making his big league debut on May 11, one could argue he would have had a compelling case to win the National League Cy Young award. 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.
Baseball Writers' Association of America Rookie of the Year Awards will be officially announced on Nov. 18. Former Pirates outfielder Jason Bay is the only player in franchise history to win the award when he earned the accolade in 2004.
