ESPN Names Pirates First Half MVP

PITTSBURGH — One player from the Pittsburgh Pirates played better than the others over the first half of the season.

Brad Doolittle of ESPN ranked the MVP for all 30 MLB teams for the first half of the 2025 season and picked right-handed starting pitcher Paul Skenes for his Pirates pick.

"Paul Skenes (137 AXE, 1st on Pirates, 9th in MLB). Skenes is 41 starts into his career, and his ERA remains under two: 1.99, over 244 innings. His ERA+ is 213. It's the best ever given a minimum career total of 41 starts," Doolittle wrote.

"Sure, Skenes might hit rough patches and the number would go up. But he's got a lot of room for error: second best is Kodai Senga (160 over 43 starts) and third is Jacob deGrom (157 over 235 starts)."

Skenes is in his second season with the Pirates and his first full campaign in 2025, showing no signs of a drop in form this year.

He has a 4-7 record in 18 starts, but a 2.03 ERA over 111.0 innings pitched, 115 strikeouts to 30 walks, a .182 opposing batting average and a 0.92 WHIP.

Skenes ranks amongs the best pitchers in baseball, ranking second in ERA and opposing batting average, sixth in WHIP and tied for 10th in strikeouts.

His record comes as the Pirates offense has struggled giving him run support, scoring four runs or less in 18 starts.

Skenes has had some sensational performances this season, including six scoreless outings, a third of his starts in 2025.

He threw allowed just one run over eight innings vs. the Philadelphia Phillies on May 16 at Citizens Bank Park, but because the Pirates didn't score, he finished with his first complete game in the 1-0 defeat.

Skenes also shutout the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodgers Stadium on April 23, with a season-high nine strikeouts, which he tied against the Phillies.

He comes off an incredible 2024 rookie campaign, where he had an 11-3 record over 23 starts, allowing just 29 earned runs over 133.0 innings pitched for a 1.96 ERA, 170 strikeouts to 32 walks, a .198 opposing batting average, a 0.95 WHIP and a 11.50 K/9.

Skenes started for the National League in the All-Star game that season, becoming the first rookie to do so since Hideo Nomo did so in 1995 with the Dodgers.

He went on to win NL Rookie of the Year, earning 23 of the 30 first-place votes and becoming the first Pirates player since outfielder Jason Bay did so 20 years earlier in 2004.

Skenes also earned All-MLB First Team honors and finished third in voting for the NL Cy Young Award.