Paul Skenes Was Spectacular in 2025

2025 was yet another painful season for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Once again, the team found themselves dead last in the National League Central, losing 90 games along the way. Despite their unfortunate record, the fanbase had one exciting thing to cheer for: Paul Skenes.

Since being promoted to the big leagues early last year, Skenes has dominated at a historic pace. This was the first full year we’ve seen from him, and it was incredible. He positioned himself as the clear frontrunner for the NL Cy Young Award along the way.

Skenes also earned his second straight start in the MLB All-Star Game, becoming the first pitcher ever to begin their career in this way. Due to the history he regularly made, Skenes was truly must-watch TV every day he took the mound.

In a year full of the same losing the Pirates have experienced over the last seven years, Skenes had a spectacular season, giving fans hope for what’s to come. Let’s take a closer look at his season and examine just what made it so impressive overall.

Taking a Look at the Numbers

Paul Skenes wrapped up his dominant season with yet another tremendous outing. He recorded seven strikeouts during a fantastic performance against the Cincinnati Reds on September 24. With his season now officially in the books, his final line from the 2025 campaign is complete, and it’s hugely impressive.

Skenes finished the year with an ERA of 1.97 (yes, you read that correctly) across 187.2 innings, recording 216 strikeouts in the process. He also racked up 6.5 fWAR, a WHIP under 1.00, and an ERA+ of 218.

In addition to his video game-like stat line, Skenes broke the Pirates’ single-season record for strikeouts by a right-hander, a record previously set by Mitch Keller. He also became the first qualified starting pitcher to finish the season with an ERA under 2.00 since Justin Verlander back in 2022.

Skenes’ Statcast numbers told a similar story. The 23-year-old ranked in the 86th percentile or better in xERA, xBA, fastball velocity, average exit velocity, strikeout rate, walk rate, and barrel percentage.

Skenes was also tied for the lowest number of home runs allowed with 11, matching David Peterson for the league lead.

This is all incredibly impressive on its own, but it becomes even more impressive when you remember this is just his second season in the big leagues. Usually, hitters begin to figure a pitcher out after some time, and players will see a minor dip in production. Not Skenes, though, as he saw quite the opposite.

Skenes improved in most aspects of his game. He posted a better walk rate and gave up fewer home runs, all while his ERA saw just a one-point increase.

Overall, the 2025 season was more than just a successful campaign for Skenes. It was the sign of bigger things to come, and proof that the preview he gave us during his rookie season was sustainable. With Skenes developing even further this season, it looks like it’s going to be even more exciting to see what he does in 2026.

Skenes’ Cy Young Candidacy

Now that we’ve touched on Skenes’ numbers on the surface, we can closely examine his case for this year’s NL Cy Young Award. With the competition around him being solid, it seems like it could be a tricky race to win. However, when looking at the numbers, it’s pretty clear that Skenes is the frontrunner.

Skenes led qualified NL starting pitchers in fWAR, FIP, ERA, home runs allowed, WHIP, ERA+, and a few other categories. In fact, he led in quite a few of these stats by a wide margin. For example, his ERA of 1.97 is 52 points better than the next best ERA (Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s 2.49).

The race will likely come down to Skenes or Cristopher Sánchez, and Skenes has a good lead on Sánchez in most areas. Not only is his ERA lower by 53 points, but Skenes put up better counting stats than Sánchez in several categories, despite pitching nearly 15 fewer innings.

For example, Skenes put up a higher fWAR than Sánchez during the 2025 season. Fifteen innings isn’t a small amount, either, as it could be the difference of a few extra starts. Nonetheless, Skenes also finished with four more strikeouts than Sánchez.

Sánchez is really the only starter who was close to being in the same realm as Skenes, as the rest of the competition is much further back on the leaderboards. With Skenes being so much better than any other starters in the National League, the fact that he beats Sánchez in most categories is a good indication that he’ll take home the award this winter.

If he does, this could be the first Cy Young Award of many for Skenes. With him already recording historic numbers in just his first full major league season, there’s reason to believe the sky is the limit for the 23-year-old as long as he avoids injuries.

If Skenes takes home the award, he’ll become the first Pirate to do so in 35 years, cementing himself in Pirates history incredibly early in his career.

Can Skenes Continue To Improve?

Due to the improvements Skenes made in most areas this year, it’s logical to wonder how much better he can get. The answer may be a little uncertain for now, although all signs point to him taking another step forward next season.

One of the most underrated pieces of Skenes’ game is his ability to learn, grow, and develop alongside the players around him. Skenes developed new pitches in each of the last two seasons, showing just how willing he is to adapt.

This willingness to learn has done Skenes well, as his splinker is arguably the filthiest pitch in baseball, registering some truly silly swings from hitters in the batter’s box. He added a sinker this season and toyed with a cutter, but with him only throwing his sinker 9.3% of the time and not yet mixing in his cutter in MLB action, his arsenal could take another huge step forward in 2026.

With all of this in mind, Skenes can absolutely continue to improve. He’s already become the best pitcher in baseball, a franchise cornerstone, and the ace of next year’s Team USA World Baseball Classic rotation after just his first full season. It’s scary to imagine what heights he can reach if he continues to improve.

This offseason will be big for the Pirates as they search to acquire top-tier bats to complement their pitching staff. Thankfully, finding a playoff-caliber ace is one less headache for the front office to have to worry about, as Skenes is among the pitchers opposing teams would be most afraid of in October.

As we look forward to the 2026 season, seeing just how good Skenes can become is going to be one of the sport’s key storylines. We could see even more historic numbers, as he works towards becoming this decade’s bright spot for the Pittsburgh Pirates.