Pirates' Paul Skenes Makes MLB History

His ERA after 50 starts was 2.02. which ranked as the second lowest ERA at 50 starts in MLB history since the beginning of the liveball era (1920-present), just behind Vida Blue, who had a 2.01 ERA with the Oakland Athletics (1969-71).

Skenes made his MLB debut on May 11, 2024 and quickly established himself as one of the best pitchers in the game.

He started 23 games, had a 1.96 ERA in 133.0 innings pitched, allowed just 29 earned runs, 94 hits, six home runs and 32 walks, while making 170 strikeouts and holding opposing hitting to a .198 batting average. He also had a 11.50 K/9 and a WHIP of 0.95. 

Skenes also started for the National League in the All-Star game, becoming the first member of the Pirates to start in since Jerry Reuss did it in 1975 and just the fifth rookie to start an All-Star game, with Hideo Nomo of the Los Angeles Dodgers doing so in 1995.

He won NL Rookie of the Year, was a finalist for the NL Cy Young Award and also earned All-MLB First Team honors for his performance that campaign.

Skenes has continued his great performance into 2025, with an 9-9 record over 28 starts, a 2.05 ERA over 167.0 innings pitched, 187 strikeouts to 38 walks, a .198 opposing batting average and a 0.95 WHIP, plus a 10.08 K/9, a 4.92 K/BB and a 2.05 BB/9.

He ranks amongst the best pitchers in baseball, with the lowest ERA, tied for the fourth most strikeouts, fifth lowest WHIP, fifth most innings pitched and tied for the sixth lowest opposing batting average, as well as the eighth best K/BB and both the 11th best BB/9 and K/9.

Skenes started the All-Star Game for the NL, becoming the first pitcher ever that started consecutive All-Star Games in the first two seasons of their career.

He also posted a 0.67 ERA over 27.0 innings pitched in five starts in July, which ranked the fifth lowest for a Pirates pitcher with at least 25.0 innings pitched and also earned him NL Pitcher of the Month honors.

Skenes can continue setting new MLB records with each start, especially with the way that he's pitching at the moment.