PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – Paul Skenes closed his dominant rookie season as the second Pirate ever named National League Rookie of the Year. Skenes got 23 first place votes to seven for Padres outfielder Jackson Merril, overall points 136-104 with Milwaukee's Jackson Chourio finishing third with 26 points.
Skenes joins Jason Bay in 2004 as the only Pirates players to win the honor.
Where do you start for the numbers for Skenes? He doesn’t qualify for the final 2024 MLB numbers because needed to pitch in 162 innings. If he counted, at 133 innings he had the best ERA in the game at 1.96, allowing 29 earned runs in 133 innings. If you look at the stats from his debut on May 11, he had the best ERA in baseball, among starters.
· 170 strikeouts, which averages to 11.5 strikeouts per 9 innings
· .198 batting average against (lowest by a Pirates starter all-time with at least 16 starts)
Skenes is the first rookie pitcher to record at least 23 starts with a sub-2.00 ERA in one season. He started the All-Star Game for the National League, just the fifth rookie pitcher to ever do that. He led NL rookies in ERA, batting average against and WHIP.
The 22-year-old also had a strong finish, 3-1, 0.75 ERA, .186 batting average against and 0.92 WHIP.