Skenes owns a 1.93 ERA in 74.2 innings.
Tuesday was the worst loss of the Pittsburgh Pirates season. It isn’t close. Coming off a 2-1 victory thanks to a Nick Gonzales late-inning hit, the Pirates sent the best pitcher in baseball to the mound, riding a streak of winning nine of their last 11.
If I had told you Paul Skenes would pitch the most efficient game of his career and return to the mound for the 9th, you would have said the Pirates are winning or Skenes has a no-hitter with fewer than 100 pitches. Neither were true. The Pirates lost.
I sat in section 116 Tuesday, which marked the fourth time I’ve seen Skenes pitch in person at PNC Park, fifth overall. It was the first time I’d watched him in a seat behind the plate.
What I witnessed was nothing short of spectacular. Sure, he gave up a leadoff home run to Nolan Arenado to start the fifth, a five-time Silver Slugger and future Hall of Famer (despite a down year). Sure, he allowed the winning run to cross the plate following a double, after a dropped third strike, and a liner to right.
Skenes earned his first career loss despite a line of 8.1 innings, two runs, no walks, and eight strikeouts. His ERA sits at 1.93 through 74.2 frames and would rank No. 1 in all of baseball if Skenes owned enough innings to qualify. Skenes has struck out 97 batters and is the first pitcher in MLB history to strike out 80 or more batters in his first 12 career starts and allow 20 or fewer runs.
Every pitcher in history to strike out 80+ batters in the first 12 starts of their MLB career while allowing fewer than 20 runs:
1. Paul Skenes (97 strikeouts, 16 runs allowed)
That’s it. That’s the list. pic.twitter.com/IMHJkBhzIJ
— Codify (@CodifyBaseball) July 24, 2024
Paul Skenes is the greatest rookie in Pittsburgh sports history. Sidney Crosby scored 39 goals and totaled 102 points as an 18-year-old rookie in 2005-06. Ben Roethlisberger finished the 2004 season just shy of the Super Bowl and recorded a 13-0 record as a starter after relieving Tommy Maddox. Big Ben wasn’t the most efficient, throwing 17 touchdowns compared to 11 interceptions and a 98.1 QB rating. Evgeni Malkin scored 33 goals, including 16 power-play goals, and tallied 52 assists in 2006-07 to win the Calder Cup.
Those are the most recent stars who shined brightest in the 21st Century, but Pittsburgh’s seen its fair share of star rookies. Franco Harris (1972), Louis Lipps (1984), and Roethlisberger join Joe Greene (1969), Jack Lambert (1974), and Kendrell Bell (2001) as NFL Offensive and Defensive Rookies of the Year. Some guy named Mario Lemieux scored a whopping 43 goals and posted 100 points as a rookie in 1985-86.
Big Ben’s record speaks for itself, but the defense carried the Steelers to the AFC Championship Game. The Penguins were the worst team in hockey during Crosby’s rookie season and only earned 58 points, a significant reason the Penguins landed Jordan Stall. It wasn’t until the following season the Penguins registered over 100 points and clinched a playoff birth.
The most impactful rookie out of any has to be Jack Lambert, winning the Super Bowl in his first two seasons and four in his first six NFL seasons. Franco was a culture changer. The Steelers never won before him, they rarely lost with him, and the Immaculate Reception set the tone for the next 50 years.
Paul Skenes is different. Skenes became the first No. 1 overall pick in baseball history to make the All-Star Game the year after he was drafted. Oh, and he started the game. That’s unheard of in baseball and a significant outlier to the two-to-four-year development play typically implemented for drafted players and international prospects.
The Pirates are a significantly better team with Skenes on the roster, and their record continues to trend over .500 since he debuted on May 11. The difference between other rookies in Pittsburgh and Skenes is the rapid transformation he’s made for himself in the game. Paul Skenes is the best pitcher in baseball. He’s made 12 career starts as a Pirate. What we’re witnessing is a feat of greatness similar to Tom Brady, Michael Jordan, LeBron James, Crosby, and Lemieux, the greatest players to ever suit up in their respective sports.
It’s not hyperbole but reality. A Paul Skenes Day is an event every time he takes the mound. I’ve never seen anything like it. On days Skenes pitches, you stop what you’re doing and watch. Big Ben didn’t become the best quarterback in football during his rookie year. Crosby was great but not the best player in hockey yet. Skenes is the best pitcher in baseball and is on pace for 200 strikeouts despite missing all of April.
The Pirates are winners of 10 of their last 13. Over 32,000 fans flocked to the ballpark on a Tuesday night in July against the Cardinals and created a playoff-like atmosphere. It’s the Paul Skenes effect. No, we don’t know how long he’s going to be here, it’s why the Pirates have to do everything in their power to surround him with a great supporting cast and bats at the trade deadline.
We were approaching the window of opportunity for the Pirates to win playoff games and go far in the playoffs at the start of the season. Skenes makes it all not just a possibility but a potential reality. I can’t get enough of it. Appreciate and enjoy it; good times at the ballpark are back again. We’ve never seen anything like it in Pirates history for the greatest rookie to ever play in Pittsburgh.