Paul Skenes' brilliance outshines Pittsburgh Pirates' mediocrity

Pittsburgh Pirates ace Paul Skenes is finishing up a rare season in MLB history.

Skenes has been utterly dominant in his sophomore season in Pittsburgh, posting a major league-leading 1.92 ERA and a 0.921 WHiP over 178 innings, striking out 203 batters with just 39 walks. He is the only pitcher in MLB history to have an ERA below 1.95, more than 200 strikeouts and fewer than 40 walks in his first 30 starts in a season.

In fact, that season has happened only three other times for any pitcher with at least 30 starts in a season. If Skenes can walk just one more batter for the rest of the season, he would join Hall of Fame pitchers Cy Young (1905) and Walter Johnson (1913) and likely future Hall of Famer Zack Greinke (2015) as the only pitchers to reach those thresholds over a full season.

Paul Skenes continues to succeed despite Pittsburgh Pirates ineptitude

Skenes' career is even more impressive considering the Pirates' consistent mediocrity. Although his 21-12 record may not impress, Skenes has a 1.94 ERA and a 0.932 WHiP over his 311 innings, striking out 373 batters with 71 walks.

His record would be much better if the Pirates' offense were somewhat competent. As baseball analyst Ryan Spaeder noted on X, if the Pirates scored three runs in Skenes' outings, he would have a 33-5 record. With four runs, his record would improve to 36-1.

If Skenes is able to continue his early dominance for an extended period of time, he may find himself immortalized alongside Young, Johnson and Greinke. His success thus far has not been because of the Pirates, but in spite of the team he plays for.