Three Insane Stats for Pirates' Paul Skenes
If you have paid any attention to baseball this year, you know that Pittsburgh Pirates rookie pitcher Paul Skenes is a stud.
He has been phenomenal ever since debuting in the big leagues back in May, going 11-3 with a 1.99 ERA.
But a few stats demonstrate just how dominant Skenes has truly been.
Jayson Stark of The Athletic has outlined three incredible numbers for Skenes, displaying how unreal the youngster has been from a historical perspective.
29
The total amount of earned runs Skenes has allowed all season long. That is one more than the amount that Roger Clemens gave up during his first six starts during his rookie campaign with the Boston Red Sox.
211
Skenes' ERA+, which is the best number for a rookie with as many starts as Skenes since Denny Driscoll all the way back in 1882.
Funny enough, Driscoll played for Allegheny City back then.
167 and 1.99
Skenes' strikeouts and ERA, which he achieved in just 22 starts.
The last rookie pitcher to register a sub-2.00 ERA and at least 130 strikeouts over 22 starts was Grover Cleveland Alexander of the Philadelphia Phillies back in 1911.
So, yeah...Paul Skenes is pretty good
While it's hard to truly quantify just how magnificent Skenes' debut campaign has gone, those numbers by Stark do a rather fine job of painting the picture.
The 22-year-old has also posted a 2.48 FIP and 0.962 WHIP, so Skenes really has been fantastic in every single category. There are no gray areas here.
Perhaps the most exciting aspect about Skenes is that he is just one of several impressive young Pirates hurlers, as Jared Jones and Luis Ortiz have shown considerable promise, and they also have Quinn Priester in the wings, as well.
