Pittsburgh Pirates superstar ace pitcher Paul Skenes had a historic rookie season, being named both an All-Star and National League Rookie of the Year.
There were high expectations with Skenes’ arrival to the big leagues, and the fireballer exceeded all of them. Skenes went 11-3 with a 1.96 ERA in 23 starts and 170 strikeouts, a Pirates franchise rookie record, across 133 innings pitched. He is set to have no limitations in the 2025 season and will likely shoulder Pittsburgh’s playoff hopes on his shoulders.
In an ESPN listing of one stat that will make or break every team in the 2025 season, David Schoenfield listed Skenes’ 1.96 ERA as the stat to watch for the Pirates and believes he will be one of the frontrunners for the National League Cy Young Award.
“That’s Paul Skenes’ rookie season ERA — not officially a record since he didn’t pitch enough innings to qualify, but his 5.9 WAR was the highest for a rookie pitcher since Michael Soroka’s 6.1 in 2019 and, really, you have to back to Jose Fernandez in 2013 to find a rookie starter who matched Skenes’ overall dominance,” Schoenfield writes.
“Skenes probably will be the betting favorite entering the season. The question is how many innings will he pitch? He pitched 160 last season in making 30 starts between Triple-A and Pittsburgh, so an extra 20% gets him to 192 innings. If he produces WAR at the same rate as 2024, that’s an 8.5-WAR season and no starter has done that since Aaron Nola and Jacob deGrom in 2018.”
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Skenes was in the running for the Cy Young Award in his rookie season and will hopefully maintain his high level of play in 2025. Pittsburgh will aim to make its first playoff appearance since 2015 with Skenes leading the way.
More MLB: Pirates Star Paul Skenes’ 2025 Projection Should Excite Pittsburgh Fans
Featured image via Katie Stratman/Imagn Images