Pirates' Paul Skenes Exceeded His Own Expectations As Rookie
In just one season, Pittsburgh Pirates rookie star Paul Skenes etched himself among the elite starting pitchers in baseball.
Skenes made the First-Team All-MLB for his stellar performance in his first season in the big leagues. The 2023 first overall pick was the lone rookie and the first player in Pirates history to make the team the First or Second-Team All-MLB — an award that was first introduced in 2019. Skenes made the team alongside players like New York Yankees center fielder Aaron Judge, Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani and Juan Soto.
Skenes' rookie year blew any expectations anyone had of him out of the water, including his own.
"Coming into the year, I really didn't try to put any limitations on myself, so I didn't know what to expect," Skenes said at the MLB Awards in Las Vegas. "Really, [I] just wanted to go out there and compete whenever they gave me the ball. So I don't know what the expectations I had were for myself this year, but yeah, I think so."
Paul Skenes and Tarik Skubal dominated on the mound this season, with both adding All-MLB First Team selections to their resumes! 👏
— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) November 15, 2024
The flamethrowers caught up with Greg and @SieraSantos to talk about what the honor means to them.
📺 All-MLB Team Show | @MGMRewards pic.twitter.com/KlgJoL9oyJ
Skenes is a finalist for the National League Rookie of the Year and Cy Young Award. He's the first player to accomplish the feat since Jose Fernandez of the Miami Marlins in 2013 and just the fifth player to be in the top three for both awards. If Skenes manages to win both, he'd be just the second player to accomplish the feat, joining the late great Dodgers ace Fernando Valenzuela in 1981.
The Rookie of the Year will be announced on Monday at 6 p.m. ET on MLB Network, while the winner of the Cy Young award will be announced on Wednesday at 6 p.m. ET on MLB Network.
Skenes was nothing short of spectacular for Pittsburgh in 2024. He was the first rookie to start an All-Star game since Hideo Nomo of the Dodgers in 1995 en route to going 11-3 with a 1.96 ERA over his 23 starts. He also set a Pirates rookie record for strikeouts with 170 over 133 innings pitched.
The Pirates ace was the first pitcher in MLB history to have an ERA below 2.20 and over 150 strikeouts in their first 21 games. He was also the second pitcher since 1913 to have an ERA below 2.00 through their first 22 appearances.
