Paul Skenes’ dominant season worthy of Rookie of the Year

It’s hard to put into words how much one player could mean to a sports franchise. Patrick Mahomes to the Kansas City Chiefs, Steph Curry to the Golden State Warriors, Sidney Crosby to the Pittsburgh Penguins.

In the same city as Crosby as past greats like Mario Lemieux, Jaromir Jagr, Joe Greene, Franco Harris, and Ben Roethlisberger, Paul Skenes is the most impactful Pittsburgh Pirates player in over a decade.

Skenes is an anomaly in more ways than one. The 2023 No. 1 overall pick became the first top pick to debut and start the All-Star Game the season after he was drafted.

On Monday, Major League Baseball named Skenes one of three finalists for the National League Rookie of the Year Award, alongside Jackson Chourio (Milwaukee) and Jackson Merrill (San Diego).

As a cherry on top, Skenes is one of three finalists for the NL Cy Young Award. Veterans Chris Sale (Atlanta) and Zack Wheeler (Philadelphia) pitched at least 34 more innings than Skenes, but fell short in multiple statistical categories than the rookie phenom.

Skenes is the first rookie to be a Cy Young finalist since the late José Fernández in 2013 and only the fifth ever to finish in the top three. Dodgers legend Fernando Valenzuela is the only rookie to ever win the award. Detroit’s Mark Fidrych and New York Mets flame throwing righty Dwight Gooden finished second eight years apart.

Skenes closed the door on 2024 worth 5.9 WAR, a 1.96 ERA, 214 ERA+, and 170 strikeouts through 133 innings (23 total starts). Debuting on May 11, over a month after the season, he immediately lived up to the enormous hype. In his second career start, Skenes delivered six no-hit innings at Wrigley Field and struck out 11 during his first road start.

In his final appearance before the ASG, Skenes again struck out 11 batters over seven no-hit frames in Milwaukee. Both road games. Both against NL Central opponents. Both while allowing one base runner.

He’s become a cultural icon, drawing young fans from across the country to don mustaches, and joined star girlfriend Livvy Dunne as celebrity guest pickers on ESPN’s College GameDay. Hell, even I grew a mustache during the ‘Summer of Skenes.’

If the power of words doesn’t give Skenes justice for the impact his 100 MPH fastball has on the game, history speaks for itself. Over, and over, and over again.

Per MLB’s Sarah Langs, Skenes became the first pitcher since at least 1901 with seven or more strikeouts in at least 11 of his first 12 career appearances. No pitcher accomplished this in more than nine of their first 12 starts.

His 1.96 ERA is the lowest of any rookie in baseball history, with a minimum of 133 innings. Skenes concluded 2024 with the fifth most strikeouts (170) by a starting pitcher since 1911, with a minimum of 22 appearances. Only Hideo Nomo (194), Kerry Wood (193), Mark Prior (172), and Dwight Gooden (171) struck out more batters during their rookie campaigns.

Skenes punched out 33.1% of batters compared to a 6.2% walk rate and earned an 11-3 record. Watching every start, he could have easily finished 14-3 or 15-2. Sure it looks like an NFL end-of-season record, but a lack of run support later in the year paired with a delayed promotion and a team out of the race likely hurts his candidacy.

Compared to Chourio and Merrill, Skenes did something the other two couldn’t for teams with multiple stars and playoff bids in the past five years. Skenes has brought life back to a franchise looking for a spark since Kyle Schwarber hit a moonshot home run in the 2015 NL Wild Card to end the hopes and dreams of a 98-win juggernaut.

He filled ballparks, received a standing ovation in rival St. Louis, became a staple on the Pat McAfee Show, and he even fished in the Allegheny with fellow starter Jared Jones, forming the Allegheny Electric Company.

Two no-hit outings in his first 11 career starts might be one of the most insane stats of the Live-Ball Era. Skenes owns multiple games with zero hits allowed and 10 strikeouts in a single season. The 22-year old did something legends of the game took years to accomplish.

Nolan Ryan earned the same accomplishment seven years into his career. Justin Verlander, arguably the best pitcher this century and one of the best all time, checked the box in year 17. Max Scherzer did it in his eighth, famously no-hitting the Pirates in what could have been a perfect game if not for Jose Tabata taking one for the team in the 9th.

Baseball America and Baseball Digest both named Skenes their NL Rookie of the Year, surpassing Jackson Merrill despite being the Vegas favorite for a large portion of August and September.

In a decorated sports city with Ben Roethlisberger going 13-0 and Sidney Crosby scoring 39 goals (102 points) during their rookie seasons, Skenes takes the cake for the greatest rookie campaign in Pittsburgh sports history. It might not be or end up as impactful as Big Ben and Sid the Kid, who eventually won championships, but Skenes has done more for Pittsburgh than he can even realize.

Skenes deserves to win NL Rookie of the Year. He’s the story of baseball in Pittsburgh this season, but more so baseball in the National League outside of the World Champion Dodgers. If he pitched without innings limits and debuted in April, he’d be a slam dunk for the Cy Young. He’ll probably earn multiple Cy Young’s like Barry Bonds did MVP’s (1990, 1992) before departing Pittsburgh.

Paul Skenes is a generational talent, one of the best we’ve ever seen take the mound. Merrill and Chourio had great seasons… but they’re not Skenes.

The “Summer of Skenes” has become the fall of awards. When you’re accomplishing feats not seen since 1912, how can you pick anyone else? Skenes is your National League Rookie of the Year. Anything short of an announcement on Nov. 18 will be a disappointment.

If the club puts some bats and bullpen help around their phenom, Skenes has the chance to take the Pirates to heights not seen since 1979. Sometimes, you can’t deny and doubt greatness.