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Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes' monster rookie season added another historic bullet point on Monday when MLB announced that he had finished in the top three of National League Cy Young voting.
Skenes is only the fifth rookie ever to finish that high in Cy Young voting in either league, according to MLB.com's Sarah Langs. The late Jose Fernandez did it most recently in 2013 with the Miami Marlins, finishing third. Dwight Gooden in 1984 with the New York Mets and Mark Fidryc in 1976 with the Detroit Tigers both finished second as rookies.
Fernando Valenzuela was the only rookie to ever win the award, doing so in 1981 with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Valenzuela died on October 22, just before his Dodgers began the World Series against the New York Yankees. LA won in five games to capture their eighth championship.
As for Skenes, he's more than earned the right to be recognized among the best pitchers in the National League. The Pirates called him up on May 11 and the former LSU Tiger made 23 starts, going 11-3 with a 1.96 ERA. If that number isn't eye-popping enough, he also struck out 11.5 batters per nine innings, walked only 2.2 per nine, and had a WHIP of 0.947.
It was enough to earn him the starting nod for the National League at the 2024 MLB All-Star Game. He pitched a scoreless first inning, walking one in his first All-Star appearance.
Chris Sale (Atlanta Braves) and Zach Wheeler (Philadelphia Phillies) are the other two NL Cy Young finalists.
Pirates ace Paul Skenes is also a National League Rookie of the Year finalist
Additionally, MLB announced that Skenes is a finalist for NL Rookie of the Year. He joins Jackson Merrill (San Diego Padres) and Jackson Chourio (Milwaukee Brewers) as finalists for the award.
Skenes' manager Derek Shelton admitted in September that the team put lofty expectations on the 22-year-old, but to his credit, Skenes has lived up to them.
“He’s doing things no one has ever done,” Shelton said in September. “If our expectation was he was going to do something no one has ever done, then we’re putting very high expectations on him. Now, I’m really glad he’s doing it, and pleased. I think that’s why you see this guy should be Rookie of the Year. He’s doing things that are historic.”
While Skenes was nearly un-hittable in 2024, he sees room to improve. Rather than coasting through an offseason of awards, accolades, and endorsements, MLB.com's Alex Stumpf reports that Skenes is ready to get back to work.
“I think there's some low-hanging fruit for me to be better next year,” Skenes said. “So, just going to attack that, talk with the coaches and develop a plan … and ready to put the work in.”
