Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes named NL Cy Young Award, Rookie of the Year finalist

PITTSBURGH — Pittsburgh Pirates pitching star Paul Skenes has been named a finalist for the National League Cy Young Award and National League Jackie Robinson Rookie of the Year Award.

The nominees for the MLB’s end-of-season awards, three from the National League and American League each, were announced Monday night.

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Skenes earned nods in two categories.

In the Cy Young entry, which goes to the best pitchers in the league, the MLB says Skenes “managed to not only live up to the hype as one of the most anticipated pitching prospects in recent memory; he exceeded it. The flamethrowing right-hander who developed his own signature pitch -- a ‘splinker’ -- went 11-3 with a 1.96 ERA over 23 starts after making his MLB debut on May 11. Though he only pitched 133 innings, he set a Pirates rookie record with 170 strikeouts and became the first rookie pitcher to start the All-Star Game in 29 years.”

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In the Rookie of the Year entry, the leagues says Skenes led MLB rookies in ERA and “finished just four punchouts behind Shota Imanaga (174) for the rookie strikeout lead. The 22-year-old became the first rookie pitcher to record at least 170 strikeouts and a sub-2.00 ERA since earned runs became official in 1913. Skenes also joined late Marlins star José Fernández as the only rookies in the past 35 seasons with double-digit wins, at least 150 strikeouts and a sub-2.50 ERA.”

“He’s doing things no one has ever done,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said in September. “If our expectation was he was going to do something no one has ever done, then we’re putting very high expectations on him. Now, I’m really glad he’s doing it, and pleased. I think that’s why you see this guy should be Rookie of the Year. He’s doing things that are historic.”

>> Pirates star Paul Skenes named Baseball America’s 2024 Rookie of the Year

The Pirates have had two Cy Young winners in franchise history: Vern Law in 1960 and Doug Drabek in 1990. The last Pirate to rank in the top four of Cy Young voting was Gerrit Cole in 2015.

The winners for each award will be announced next week. The Rookie of the Year winner will be announced on Nov. 18, the Manager of the Year Award on Nov. 19, the Cy Young Award on Nov. 20 and the Most Valuable Player Award on Nov. 21. All announcements will be at 6 p.m.

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