Paul Skenes wins NL Rookie of the Year for 2024 after sensational season
Paul Skenes is your NL Rookie of the Year.
The former LSU standout was told the big news on Monday night.
The moment Paul Skenes won the 2024 NL Jackie Robinson Rookie of the Year Award! pic.twitter.com/XzldDCuKeT
— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) November 18, 2024
Skenes helped lead LSU to a College World Series championship in June 2023. Less than one year later, he got the call to the big leagues. The No. 1 overall pick of the 2023 MLB Draft, Skenes made his MLB debut for the Pittsburgh Pirates on May 11.
Skenes did not wait to show off his stuff. Though he only went 4 IP in his debut outing, he logged 7 strikeouts. He would settle in to throwing more innings, while dropping the ERA and continuing to strike out many of his opposing batters.
Over 23 starts, Skenes posted a 1.96 ERA over 133 innings. He struck out 170 batters, a Pirates rookie record, to just 32 walks. Skenes was just 3 Ks behind Shota Imanaga for the rookie strikeout lead, despite Imanaga logging 40.1 more innings of work. Skenes was tagged for only 29 earned runs on the year, giving up just 10 home runs, including no homers in his final 6 starts of the season.
Rookie seasons like Skenes’ are rare. He became the first rookie since Hideo Nomo in 1995 to start the All-Star Game. MLB.com notes that Skenes is the first rookie since 1913 to record 170 Ks and a sub-2.00 ERA. And in the last 35 years, only Skenes and the late Jose Fernandez recorded double-digit wins, 150 Ks and a sub-2.50 ERA as rookies.
Well-deserved. Congrats.
A well deserved award for an outstanding young man. He’ll have a HoF career if he can remain healthy.