Baseball Digest announced that Pittsburgh Pirates right-handed pitcher Paul Skenes has won their National League Rookie of the Year award.
The award from Baseball Digest is not the official award, but is still an honor that is decided by an 11-member panel, with nine of those members giving Skenes a first place vote.
Skenes was called up on May 11th, less than a year after being drafted first overall by the Pirates. Hyped as a generational pitcher in the draft, Skenes didn’t disappoint. His arrival to the Majors was the fastest in 35 years, since the debut of Ben McDonald. Skenes pitched 133 innings, putting up a 1.96 ERA and 170 strikeouts. The strikeout mark set a Pirates record for rookie pitchers.
The performance from Skenes led to him being named to the All-Star Game as the starter. He was the first rookie to start the All-Star Game since Hideo Nomo in 1995. He retired three of four batters he faced, only allowing a walk to Juan Soto. That was followed by a inning-ending groundout against Aaron Judge on a 99.7 MPH fastball.
It wasn’t just that Skenes was one of the best rookies in history. He was one of the best pitchers in the game this season. His 1.96 ERA led 96 MLB pitchers with 130+ innings. Only Garrett Crochet had a higher strikeout rate. Skenes was one of eight pitchers in that group with an opposing batting average below .200. Had he carried this performance across 50 more innings, he’d be in the discussion for the Cy Young award.
The main competition for Skenes in the official award, voted on by the Baseball Writers Association of America, is San Diego’s Jackson Merrill. The only argument against the historic season from Skenes would be the argument that Merrill had more value as a daily player.
Looking at FanGraphs WAR results, Skenes added 0.19 WAR every start. Merrill averages 0.17 WAR added every five games. Merrill has also put up an impressive season for a rookie, but there’s an argument that Skenes has been more valuable, even without daily playing time.
The results of the official Rookie of the Year award will be announced on November 18th.
