Skenes earned a 0.75 ERA in five September starts spanning 24 impressive innings.
Another day, another award for Pittsburgh Pirates star phenom Paul Skenes.
On Tuesday, Baseball America dubbed Skenes as its 2024 Rookie of the Year, donning the cover of the popular prospect magazine.
Paul Skenes is our 2024 MLB Rookie of the Year
One year after going No. 1 overall in the draft, the @Pirates fireballer is the cover star of our October MLB and MiLB awards issue https://t.co/Ya423m0d5E pic.twitter.com/HVuG2YzD0S
— Baseball America (@BaseballAmerica) September 30, 2024
Skenes ended the season in style by striking out Juan Soto looking and Aaron Judge swinging in the first inning at Yankee Stadium in his final start.
In two innings against the Yankees, Skenes dropped his ERA to 1.96, the lowest of any rookie in baseball history with 133 innings. Skenes closed the book on 2024 with the fifth most strikeouts (170) by a starting pitcher since 1911, with a minimum of 22 appearances.
Previous winners of the BA Rookie of the Year Award include Julio Rodriguez (2022), Pete Alonso (2019), Shohei Ohtani (2018), Judge (2017), and Kris Bryant (2015). Skenes induced a bounce out of Judge on the first pitch he threw to the likely AL MVP winner during the All-Star Game in Arlington.
Skenes is the favorite to win NL Rookie of the Year by various sportsbooks, but Padres outfielder Jackson Merrill surpassed Skenes last month before Skenes closed the gap in his final two outings.
Only Hideo Nomo (194), Kerry Wood (193), Mark Prior (172), and Dwight Gooden (171) struck our more batters in their rookie seasons. That’s worthy of winning NL Rookie of the Year, if you ask me.
Skenes debuted on May 11 and never looked back, only allowing three or more earned runs in a game on three occasions, including his debut hosting Chicago. He allowed four earned runs in six innings at Dodger Stadium on six hits, one walk, and struck out eight. That was arguably Skenes’ worst start of the season.
Current and former players and broadcasters rave about Skenes and his demeanor on the mound as a unique case never seen before in Major League Baseball. Baseball America ROY is a good start, but the NL Rookie of the Year Award should be set in stone… it was months ago.