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Pirates All 40: Paul Skenes Looks to Build on Historic Rookie Season

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Paul Skenes, Pittsburgh Pirates, MLB

This is one in a series of stories breaking down members of the Pittsburgh Pirates’ 40-man roster.



There hasn’t been much buzz around the Pittsburgh Pirates since they lost to the Chicago Cubs in the 2015 National League Championship Series.

The Pirates have had just one winning season in the ensuing nine seasons. They have finished as high as third place in the National League Central only once in that span.

However, right-hander Paul Skenes has given the Pirates reason for hope.

Skenes won the National League Rookie of the Year last season when his starts became events at PNC Park. He also finished third in the NL Cy Young Award voting and was named MLB Rookie of the Year by Baseball America.

MLB Network ranked Skenes as the fourth-best starting pitcher in the game earlier in the week behind Philadelphia Zach Wheeler and left-handers Tarik Skubal of the Detroit Tigers and Chris Sale of the Atlanta Braves. Skubal and Sale were the Cy Young winners last season and Wheeler was second behind Sale in the NL voting.

The Pirates selected Skenes with the first overall pick in the 2023 amateur draft after he led LSU to the College World Series championship. Skenes then made his major-league debut on May 11 last season.

In 23 starts, Skenes had an 11-3 record, 1.96 ERA, 0.947 WHIP and 170 strikeouts and 32 walks in 133 innings. His ERA was the lowest single-season mark in franchise history for pitchers with at least 16 starts.

Skenes ranked first among all qualified NL rookies in ERA, batting average against (.198) and WHIP. He was second in wins, strikeouts and winning percentage (.786).

Skenes also became the fifth rookie pitcher to start an All-Star game, working one inning against the American League at Arlington, Texas.

In his major-league debut, Skenes allowed three runs in four-plus innings to the Chicago Cubs at PNC Park. He left with two runners and no outs in the fifth inning with the Pirates leading 6-1 but wound up with a no-decision.

Six days later, Skenes faced the Cubs again in Chicago and was dominant in getting his first career win, not allowing a hit in six scoreless innings. He became the first Pirates pitcher with at least 11 strikeouts at Wrigley Field in their 1,017th game at the venerable ballpark.

Skenes became the second MLB pitcher since 1901 to have 45 or more strikeouts and six or fewer walks in his first six career appearances, joining Masahiro Tanaka with the New York Yankees in 2014. Skenes also became the first big-league pitcher to have at least seven strikeouts in nine of his first 10 career starts.

Skenes became the fifth pitcher in major-league history to have at least 150 strikeouts in his first 20 career games, joining Kerry Wood, Hideo Nomo, Dwight Gooden and Mark Prior. Skenes became the first pitcher since 1900 to have 150 strikeouts and a sub-2.00 ERA through his initial 22 games.

Also impressive was that Skenes avoided hitting the “rookie wall.” He was named the NL Rookie Pitcher of the Month for September after posting a 0.75 ERA and amassing 34 strikeouts over five starts and 24 innings.

The 22-year-old Skenes almost certainly will start for the Pirates when they visit the Miami Marlins on March 27 in the season opener. Skenes figures to remain the ace of the rotation and perennial All-Star until the low-budget franchise feels it can no longer afford him and trades him for a package of prospects.

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