Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitcher Paul Skenes (30) pitches against the Milwaukee Brewers during the second inning at PNC Park. Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images

Pittsburgh Pirates Ace Paul Skenes Among Historic Company Heading Into Next Start

Originally posted on Fastball on SI | By Sam Connon | Last updated May 26, 2025 7:08 PM ET

The start of Paul Skenes' career has been one for the history books, even if the Pittsburgh Pirates haven't done much to take advantage of his early star turn.

Skenes is slated to make his 35th big league start Wednesday against the Arizona Diamondbacks, just over a year after his MLB debut. To this point in his career, the 22-year-old right-hander is 14-8 with a 2.10 ERA, 0.947 WHIP, 240 strikeouts and an 8.0 WAR.

According to StatMuse Baseball, Skenes is one of six pitchers ever to allow fewer than 50 earned runs through 34 career big league starts. José Fernández, Jeffrey Springs, Tony Gonsolin and Drew Rasmussen were the only other players ever to achieve the feat before Skenes.

Starting pitchers with fewer than 50 earned runs allowed before their 35th career start:

Jose Fernandez
Jeffrey Springs
Tony Gonsolin
Drew Rasmussen

And Paul Skenes. pic.twitter.com/YML34IaohD
— StatMuse Baseball (@statmusemlb) May 26, 2025

Reports surfaced last week that the Pirates do not intend to trade Skenes so early in his career, despite the club sitting at 19-35 so far in 2025. Last year's NL Rookie of the Year and NL Cy Young finalist, who went No. 1 overall in the 2023 MLB Draft, is under team control through the end of the 2029 campaign.

This article first appeared on Fastball on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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