Go back in time and tell your 2023 self that LSU’s Friday night ace would not only be the best pitcher in the country, but he might be the best pitcher on the entire planet.
Paul Skenes won his first ever
NL Cy Young Award, and did so in unanimous fashion. Skenes earned all 30 first place votes and is the first Pittsburgh Pirate to win the award since Doug Drabek won in 1990. Skenes was also a finalist for last year’s Cy Young, and finished third in that season’s voting.
Skenes had an MLB-best 1.97 ERA, and was the first starter to have a sub-2.00 ERA since Justin Verlander in 2022; he also led the National League with a .948 WHIP and his 216 strikeouts was second in the NL.
Skenes is the eighth pitcher in MLB history to ever win a Rookie of the Year Award and a Cy Young, and only he and former New York Met great Dwight Gooden can say they won the awards in back-to-back seasons.
Since arriving to LSU and leading the Tigers to the national title, Skenes has been on one of the greatest, most prestigious runs I can remember any athlete ever having across any sport. This is the running list accolades Skenes has collected since taking the Alex Box Stadium mound for the first time against Western Michigan in February of 2023:
- 2023 College World Series Champion
- 2023 CWS Most Outstanding Player
- 2023 No. 1 Overall Pick
- Started 2024 MLB All-Star Game
- 2024 NL Rookie of the Year
- Started 2025 MLB All-Star Game
- 2025 NL Cy Young
There’s really no other way to put it: through two seasons Paul Skenes is on a Hall of Fame trajectory. Now if only we can get him on a franchise worthy of his talent.
