On Monday, November 18,  Paul Skenes was announced as the Jackie Robinson Rookie of the Year Award (ROY) winner. The ROY Award recognizes the most outstanding rookie, in both the National League (NL) and American League (AL), and was first established in 1947. The former first-overall pick became the second Pirate to win the award after Jason Bay in 2004. He is the first Pirates pitcher to win the award and the first Pirates rookie to finish within the top 3 of Cy Young voting which recognizes the best pitcher of the year.

The most impressive part of Paul Skenes's rookie season was that it only took him 133 innings to make his mark on the league. For reference, a 162-inning season is needed to qualify for the Earned Run Average (ERA) title. No other starting pitcher (defined as a pitcher who started every game) has ever won NL ROY, throwing fewer innings than Paul Skenes.

For Skenes to have won the ROY with 23/30 first-place votes, those 133 innings had to be significantly more spectacular than the contributions of other rookies who played more games or pitched more innings.

The Debut

Less than a year after winning the College World Series with LSU, Skenes had already worked his way through the ranks of professional baseball. After being drafted, the Pirates wisely rested his arm, allowing him to pitch only 6.2 innings in the minor leagues following the 122.2 innings he threw with LSU. Following a solid Spring Training, Skenes was assigned to Triple-A Indianapolis. By any measure, this was an aggressive assignment, as the 22-year-old had minimal pro experience and was already on the doorstep of the big leagues. Skenes was dominant in Indy, maintaining an ERA below one. After just seven starts, he had already forced the Pirate’s hand, leading to his May 11th call-up to pitch against the Chicago Cubs in perhaps the most anticipated Pirates pitching debut since Gerrit Cole. 

In 4 innings, Skenes allowed 3 runs, struck out 7, and recorded a no-decision in a 10-9 win. On the surface, this is not a dominant outing, but the underlying numbers showed Skene’s promise. In his first pitch, Skenes delivered a 101-mile-per-hour fastball to the Cubs leadoff hitter, Mike Tauchmann. When the dust settled, Skenes threw 16 more pitches than 100. In his next start, Skenes threw 6 no-hit innings before being pulled, and it was clear that Paul Skenes had arrived.

Paul Skenes Day

The phenomena of Paul Skenes went much deeper than his on-paper stats. After his debut, where he drew a standing ovation and a sold-out PNC Park, his starts became must-see events in the city. As the bright spot on a losing roster, his starts clearly stick out on attendance logs. Skenes drew a crowd of over 30,000 on a Tuesday night game in July against the Cardinals. No other games in the series surpassed more than 21,000 fans. He regularly inflated attendance numbers by thousands compared to other series games. While the Pirates finished last in their division in both record and attendance, Skenes pitched in front of first-place crowds and made the Pirates nationally relevant once a week, when the entire city would celebrate “Paul Skenes Day.”

His best start of the year occurred on July 11th In Milwaukee, where he threw 7 no-hit innings and struck out 11. While some fans wanted him to pitch deeper into the game and potentially throw a no-hitter, Skenes remained humble in his post-game press conference, saying he “definitely wanted to finish it [the game]” but understood the team’s decision to pull him to preserve his health.

All-Star Game Starter

Skenes then cruised through to the all-star break. In just 66.1 innings, Skenes pitched himself into the running for All-Star Game(ASG) Starter. Traditionally, the role of starting pitcher in the All-Star game is given to the best pitchers from both leagues through midseason. Skenes had to be more than dominant to claim the role and compensate for his low usage. He had the fewest number of games played out of any player to appear in the All-Star Game in its 91-year history. In his inning under the spotlight, he retired some of the best players in baseball: Aaron Judge, Steven Kwan, and Gunnar Henderson. He was just the fifth rookie pitcher to start the ASG, putting his name among all-time greats like Hideo Nomo and Fernando Valenzuela.

Award Season

When looking at Skene's entire body of work and comparing it with his peers, he is solidly in the top tier. Although he finished 3rd in NL Cy Young voting, there is a clear argument to be made that Skenes was MLB’s best pitcher in 2024. Skenes bests Cy Young winners Tarik Skubal and Chris Sale in the most important rate metrics. His absurd 33.1% strikeout rate—meaning he struck out more than a third of the batters he faced—would be the league’s best(had he thrown enough innings to qualify) and is historically elite. He used these strikeout skills to be the most effective run preventer in the league—recording a 1.90 ERA, more than 20 points better than the league leader, Sale.

These insane rate metrics don’t even tell the whole story. Skenes consistently went deep into games and gave his team the best chances to win.15/23 of his starts were Quality Starts, meaning he threw more than 6 innings and allowed less than 3 runs. It is rare for pitchers, especially young power pitchers like Skenes, to maintain elite rate numbers while still going deep into games. Pitchers who hunt strikeouts can become inefficient, but Skenes has proven that even as a rookie who was often on a strict pitch count, he can be a trusted workhorse. As Skenes continues to establish himself in the league he will be trusted to go deeper into games.

No one should be outraged that Paul Skenes didn’t win the Cy Young; a dominant ROY finish is a worthy consolation prize. There is a strong argument that Paul Skenes is the best pitcher going into the 2025 season. If Skenes builds on his rookie year by simply pitching more innings while sustaining his strikeout numbers, he will surely be atop of the leaderboard and, more importantly, may carry the Pirates into relevancy.