The best is yet to come for Paul Skenes. On Saturday, he looked like a longtime ace.
The Pittsburgh Pirates selected the right-handed pitcher with the first overall pick last year, and he dominated the minors and was called up to the big leagues in May.
His dominance earned him an All-Star nod, and he was named the game’s starting pitcher for the National League.
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Saturday’s game against the New York Yankees marked the final start of his historic season, and the Pirates had said they probably wouldn’t leave him on the bump for too long. So, he made the most of his time.
In the first inning, he struck out Juan Soto looking on a 100 mph two-seamer and followed up by wiping away likely MVP Aaron Judge with a disgusting breaking ball.
Skenes, an LSU alum, dates LSU Tigers gymnast and social media sensation Livvy Dunne, who is a New Jersey native. Not far from her hometown, Dunne took a trip to the Bronx to watch her boyfriend, and she was impressed.
He only pitched one more inning, but his last pitch of the season was another devastating two-seamer, this one to Jazz Chisholm Jr., that the Yankees third baseman looked at for strike three. Skenes went six up, six down in his final outing.
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Skenes finished his first MLB season with a 1.96 ERA, the lowest among pitchers with over 100 innings pitched. It’s also the lowest ever for a rookie in the live-ball era (since 1920). He also struck out 11.5 batters per nine innings and had a WHIP of 0.95.
The 22-year-old is not qualified for the ERA title because pitchers need to throw one inning per game (normally, 162 innings) to do so, and he pitched 133 this year.
That will likely prevent him from winning the Cy Young Award, but he’s already an ace and will be in that conversation for a long time.
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