Paul Skenes Stats, Bio & Cy Young Odds
By Chris Wright
Last Updated:
- All-Star Paul Skenes’ went 10-10 and led all MLB pitchers with a 1.97 ERA in 2025.
- Paul Skenes odds are now -15000 to win the NL Cy Young Award as of September 25.
- Skenes Bio and FAQ.
Former LSU star pitcher Paul Skenes made baseball history when he became just the second player to win the College World Series and be drafted No. 1 overall in the Major League Baseball draft in the same season.
Skenes accomplished both feats in 2023.
Less than a year later, Skenes was a Major League Baseball rookie. And shortly after, the Pittsburgh Pirates ace was added to the 2024 National League All-Star team. He went on to win the 2024 NL Rookie of the Year Award and finished third in NL Cy Young Award voting. He was a popular pick among bettors to win the Rookie of the Year Award.
In 2025, Skenes was named to the NL All-Star team for the second time. And, for the second time, Skenes was selected to start the All-Star Game. Skenes also is the betting favorite to win the 2025 NL Cy Young Award.
Skenes seemingly makes baseball history every time he starts a game for the Pittsburgh Pirates. MLB Network highlights his performances routinely. He had the lowest ERA from a starter with 40+ career starts in baseball history, and the second-lowest for a starter with 50 career starts.
Here is a look at Skenes’ career stats, odds to win his first NL Cy Young, his game logs, bio information and much more. Of course, there always are DFS opportunities and various prop bets involving Skenes, too.
Paul Skenes Career Stats
Skenes went 10-10 with a 1.97 ERA in 2025, dominating his second season in the major leagues just like he did as a rookie in 2024.
Skenes went 11-3 with a 1.96 ERA en route to capturing the 2024 NL Rookie of the Year Award with the Pittsburgh Pirates. He immediately became part of the Cy Young race. His home starts at PNC Park routinely drew above-average crowds, which is not a surprise considering he is considered the best pitcher in major league baseball. Wins have been harder to find in 2025, but he’s still dominating. As unbelievable as it sounds, Skenes is holding opposing teams to a .198 career batting average, which puts him on a Nolan Ryan type pace. (Ryan held opposing teams to a sub-.200 batting average an astounding 12 times.)
Skenes has a career record of 21-13 with a career ERA of 1.96.
Skenes has made 55 career MLB starts — and his ERA was over 3.00 in only 3 of those starts.
Here’s a look at the Pittsburgh Pirates ace’s complete career stats after his first two seasons in the major leagues:
Paul Skenes Odds to win NL Cy Young Award
Paul Skenes is the runaway favorite to win his first NL Cy Young Award in 2025, with sportsbooks like ESPNBet offering odds as low as -15000 as of Thursday morning, Sept. 25. Skenes has led the Cy Young race most of the season.
Skenes made his final start of the 2025 MLB regular season on Wednesday, Sept. 24 at the Cincinnati Reds. Skenes pitched 6 innings of shutout baseball, allowing just 4 hits. He struck out 7 — giving him 216 strikeouts for the season. That’s a single-season record for Pittsburgh Pirates right-handed pitchers. Skenes left with the lead, but the bullpen couldn’t hold it, so he ended up with a no decision.
His W-L record remained 10-10, but he lowered his season ERA to 1.97 — which led all MLB pitchers.
You can track the complete Cy Young Award odds. These odds, via ESPNBet, posted on Sept. 25, 2025.
The Cy Young Award winner will be announced in mid-November 2025 during MLB’s annual Awards Show.
Zack Wheeler was Skenes’ primary competition in the NL Cy Young race, but his Cy Young odds plummeted after the Phillies announced on Monday, August, 18 that Wheeler will miss time recovering from a blood clot in his upper extremity. The Phillies later announced that Wheeler had season-ending surgery.
As of Sept. 25, Phillies teammate Christopher Sanchez continues to have the second-best odds to win the NL Cy Young, but the gap has grown so much that Skenes appears to be the betting lock to win. Sanchez’s odds were +1400, via ESPNBet.
Skenes finished third in the 2024 NL Cy Young Award voting as a major league baseball rookie.
Paul Skenes 2025 MLB Game Log
In Pittsburgh, particularly during home starts at PNC Park, every time Skenes starts, locals refer to it as “Paul Skenes Day.” Saturday Down South has you covered if you want to keep track of Skenes’ performances with the Pittsburgh Pirates. He still hasn’t pitched nine innings, but he recently recorded his first career complete game. Pitching all nine innings for a complete game will be rare, though, as the Pirates continue to monitor his pitch count. Opposing teams still haven’t figured him out, as he held hitters to a .199 batting average in 2025 — and .198 batting average in his young career.
Which way is Cy Young favorite Paul Skenes trending for the Pittsburgh Pirates? After his season ERA rose to just a tick over 2 following his start on Aug. 2, he lowered it again with 6 shutout innings on Aug. 7.
His ERA is 1.97 after his final start of the regular season on Wednesday, Sept. 24 at Cincinnati. Skenes’ strikeout to walk ratio remains one of the best in the majors.
Here are his most recent performances as he closed out the Cy Young race with a flurry:
Paul Skenes All-Star Game Stats
The Pittsburgh Pirates Cy Young candidate has appeared in 2 All-Star Games, starting both. Here are his stats from each All-Star Game:
Paul Skenes Career Stats at LSU
Before being selected No. 1 overall by the Pittsburgh Pirates, Skenes dominated in college. Skenes pitched (and hit) for 2 seasons at Air Force, where he was a team captain and Mountain West Conference Freshman of the Year. He was a 2-time First Team All-American at Air Force. He transferred to Louisiana State University in 2023 and became a Consensus All-American — and arguably the greatest LSU player. Skenes was such a dominant force on the mound and at the plate that he won the 2022 John Olerud Award, which is given to the best 2-way player in college baseball. In 2023, he was a finalist for the Golden Spikes Award, which is given to the best amateur player in the country. Collegiate Baseball and Baseball America honored him with various weekly and annual awards.
Skenes focused on pitching at LSU, and authored one of the greatest seasons in the conference’s long, illustrious history. He joined Ben McDonald as LSU star pitchers taken No. 1 overall in a major league draft. Ben McDonald was the No. 1 overall pick in 1989.
Skenes broke McDonald’s LSU and SEC record with 209 strikeouts and was named the Most Outstanding Player of the 2023 College World Series.
Paul Skenes Bio
Paul Skenes was born in Fullerton, California, a baseball-rich suburb just south of Los Angeles.
He grew up in Lake Forest, California, and starred locally at El Toro High School before signing to play baseball at Air Force. Skenes had uncles who served in the Navy and Coast Guard. He was not drafted coming out of El Toro HS, but he was named all-state as a junior in high school. MaxPreps named the El Toro right-hander to its all-state team in 2019.
Skenes was a 2-time All-American at Air Force. In 2021, Skenes set the Air Force record with 10 saves. One of those saves came against LSU. In 2022, Skenes set the Air Force record with 11 victories. He also hit 13 home runs that season.
That summer, he decided to transfer to LSU.
Skenes already was in the mix to become the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 MLB Draft, and he cemented that status with a historic season at LSU, where he set single-season school and SEC pitching records.
The Pittsburgh Pirates selected Skenes with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 MLB Draft. Skenes made 5 starts in the minor leagues in 2023. He made his minor league debut with the Bradenton Marauders before being promoted to the Double A Altoona Curve. In 2 starts, he struck out 5 batters in 2 2/3 innings for the Altoona Curve.
In 2024, Skenes dominated in spring training but, for financial reasons, the Pittsburgh Pirates decided to keep Skenes in the minor leagues. He made 7 starts for the Triple A Indianapolis Indians, posting a 1.32 ERA with 45 strikeouts in 27 1/3 innings.
The Pittsburg Pirates promoted Skenes to the major leagues in May of 2024 and he made his big-league debut on May 11, 2024 against the Chicago Cubs at PNC Park.
Skenes is the biggest star the Pirates have, and he has quickly become a fan-favorite. In addition to his All-Star performances on the field, Skenes is contributing to the Gary Sinise Foundation, a nonprofit organization that raises money for the military and first responders.
For more bio info, there is a list of his top college and major league awards, and an FAQ.
Paul Skenes Awards
Skenes has won numerous college and MLB awards. These are some of the most notable:
- 2025 single-season record for strikeouts by Pirates right-hander (216)
- 2025 NL All-Star
- 2024 NL Rookie of the Year
- 2024 NL All-Star
- Finished 3rd in 2024 NL Cy Young Award voting
- No. 1 overall pick in 2023 MLB Draft
- 2023 Most Outstanding Player of College World Series
- 2023 Dick Howser Trophy winner (best Division I player)
- 2023 SEC Pitcher of the Year
- 2023 First Team All-SEC
- 2023 Consensus All-American
- 2023 Collegiate Baseball Pitcher of the Year
- 2023 Collegiate Baseball Pitcher of the Week (7 times)
- 2023 Collegiate Baseball National Player of the Week
- 2022 John Olerud Award winner (best 2-way player)
- 2022 First Team All-American
- 2022 Mountain West Conference Co-Pitcher of the Year
- 2021 First Team All-American
- 2021 Collegiate Baseball Co-Freshman of the Year
FAQ About Paul Skenes
Paul Skenes was born on May 29, 2002. He was 21 when he made his Major League debut with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2024.
No. In 2023, Skenes started dating former LSU gymnast Livvy Dunne while both were at LSU. They have been together since.
Skenes is eligible to become a free agent in 2030. He is eligible for arbitration in 2027.
The 2025 MLB Trade Deadline passed, so, for now, Skenes remains with the Pittsburgh Pirates. However, most baseball experts expect the Pirates to eventually trade Skenes for the simple reason that they can’t afford to re-sign him once he becomes a free agent.
When they trade him is now the big question.
The Pittsburgh Pirates gave Skenes a record $9.2 million signing bonus after picking him No. 1 overall in the 2023 MLB Draft.
His annual salary was $740,000 in 2024.
His salary is $875,000 in 2025.
That number will grow modestly again in 2026.
Skenes is eligible for salary arbitration in 2027.
Arbitration occurs when a player with enough service time in the major leagues believes he is worth more than his current contract. If eligible, the player and team essentially go to court, where a third party listens to both sides and then picks either the salary the player requested or the salary the team offered. Often, the player and team agree to a new deal to avoid arbitration.
Skenes can throw a four-seam fastball 100+ mph, but he hasn’t hit triple digits nearly as often in 2025. Part of that is he lowered his arm angle ever so slightly, which reduces velocity but adds horizontal movement. His average four-seam fastball velocity is about 98 miles per hour, making him the hardest-throwing starting pitcher in the major leagues.
Skenes is a power pitcher, so he throws a 4-seam fastball more than any other pitch. He also throws a split-finger fastball, a sweeper, a sinker, a changeup, a slider and a curveball. He added the sinker as a new pitch in 2025. Baseball Savant has an excellent, detailed breakdown of all of Skenes’ pitches.
Skenes played college baseball Air Force for 2 years (2021, 2022) before transferring to LSU for the 2023 season.
Managing Editor
A 30-time APSE award-winning editor with previous stints at the Miami Herald, The Indianapolis Star and News & Observer, Executive Editor Chris Wright oversees editorial operations for Saturday Down South.
