Pirates' Paul Skenes Earns Another Incredible Honor

Which Starting Pitchers Joined Skenes on the All-MLB All-Star Team?

Skenes was one of just two NL pitchers that made the All-MLB All-Star Team, along with Cy Young Finalist and World Series MVP in Los Angeles Dodgers right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto.

The other three pitchers came from the American League with Cy Young Award winner in Detroit Tigers left-hander Tarik Skubal, Boston Red Sox left-hander Garrett Crochet and New York Yankees left-hander Max Fried.

Skenes Has Incredible 2025 Season

Skenes had just a 10-10 record in 32 starts with the Pirates, but posted a 1.97 ERA over 187.2 innings pitched, 216 strikeouts to 42 walks, a .199 opposing batting average and a 0.95 WHIP, along with a 10.36 K/9, a 2.01 BB/9 and a 5.14 K/BB.

He ranked amongst the best pitchers in the MLB, with the lowest ERA, tied for the fourth most strikeouts, the fourth lowest WHIP, the sixth lowest batting average and the 10th most innings pitched, plus the fifth best K/BB, seventh best K/9 and ninth best BB/9.

Skenes also ranked highly in the National League, with the lowest WHIP, the fourth lowest batting average, tied for the second most strikeouts and the fourth most innings pitched, as well as the second best K/BB and both the fifth best K/9 and BB/9.

His play earned him a spot as the starting pitcher for the NL in the All-Star Game, making him the first pitcher to start consecutive All-Star Games in consecutive seasons to begin their career.

Skenes Makes MLB, Pirates History

Skenes also had one of the best pitching seasons in recent years and made some MLB history along the way.

He became the first NL pitcher with a sub-2.00 ERA and 200+ strikeouts since right-hander Jacob DeGrom did it with the New York Mets in 2018. He is the first MLB pitcher to finish with a sub-2.00 ERA in a season since right-hander Justin Verlander did so with the Houston Astros in 2022.

Skenes became the first pitcher in MLB history to finish with 200+ strikeouts and a sub-2.00 ERA and still not have a winning record, since ERA became a stat in 1913.

He also finished as the first qualified pitcher to post a sub-2.00 ERA in a season at 23 years or younger, since right-hander Dwight Gooden did so at age 20 with the Mets in 1985.

Skenes made Pirates history too, with his 216 strikeouts the most for a right-handed pitcher in the live-ball era (since 1920). Only Ed Morris, who had 326 strikeouts in 1886 and 298 strikeouts in 1885, the most and second most in a season in franchise history, has more than him.

His 216 strikeouts rank seventh most in a season in franchise history and fifth most in the live-ball era.

Skenes is just one of three Pirates pitchers to lead the MLB in ERA, with right-hander John Candelaria last doing so in 1977 and right-hander Cy Blanton doing it first in 1935, according to OptaStats.

Awards, Accolades Plie on For Skenes

This is just one of many honors for Skenes and his impressive campaign, serving as one of the better seasons for a pitcher in recent history.

Skenes won the NL Cy Young Award unanimously, beating out both Philadelphia Phillies left-handed pitcher Cristopher Sánchez and Yamamoto.

He became the third pitcher in Pirates history that won the Cy Young Award, along with Doug Drabek in 1990 and Vern Law in 1960.

Baseball Digest named Skenes their Pitcher of the Year, the MLB Players Association Choice Awards named him the NL Outstanding Pitcher of the Year and Sporting News named Skenes to their All-Star team.