Even in the game in which he allowed the most hits (seven) in his career, Paul Skenes was once again wonderful for the Pittsburgh Pirates. On Thursday at PNC Park, the right-hander shut down the Cincinnati Reds with a six-inning outing in which he retired eight opponents on strikes and did not allow anyone to reach third base. It was another spectacular show from the ace, who this time did have the offensive support of his team.
The Pirates crossed the plate seven times, an anomaly in Skenes’ outings, who before Thursday’s game was the seventh pitcher in all of MLB with the least offensive support (3.39 runs per nine innings) among starters with at least 20 starts. That detail allowed him to work more calmly and devour innings for the Pirates’ cause.
Skenes displayed an impressive array of seven pitches, mixing the power of his fastball (which reached 100 mph) and his sinker with the marked vertical movement of the sweeper, slider and, to a lesser extent, the curveball. He also applied the art of deception with the changeup and splitter, a complete artillery that helped him get out of any kind of trouble.
“He got that gift, exceptional talent, but when he gets in trouble he’s able to resort to a lot of different things to get out of the inning, get strikeouts or induce double plays,” Pirates manager Don Kelly said.
Record pace
After another day at the office, Paul Skenes established himself as the most effective pitcher in the Majors during the current season. The right-hander has a 1.94 ERA and opponents are hitting .192 with a .545 OPS, anemic averages that confirm his tremendous dominance of the league.
Although he still has a month and a half of the season to go, the Pirates ace has already surpassed his 2024 totals in games (24) and innings pitched (144). What is striking is that, with a higher workload, he has managed to reduce his rates of walks allowed (2.1) and home runs allowed (0.4) per nine innings.
Beyond those numbers, Skenes is making headlines because no pitcher in the Live Ball Era (since 1920) has been as dominant in his first 47 MLB starts. Over two seasons, the right-hander has a 1.95 ERA after 277 innings of work, which is the lowest earned run average by a pitcher in his first 47 starts.
To understand the magnitude of his performance, there is not even a man with an ERA below 2.20 in his first 47 starts in the Major Leagues. Skenes is followed on this historic list by Dwight Gooden (2.26), Jose Fernandez (2.40), Jacob deGrom (2.49) and Matt Harvey (2.54), who make up the top five.
Of Skenes’ 47 major league starts, 40 have ended with two or fewer earned runs allowed and only once has he allowed more than four runs. That happened, by the way, this season, on April 8, when the St. Louis Cardinals scored five times.
Not even Ohtani can overshadow him
There is much talk about the impact Shohei Ohtani has had on Major League Baseball in recent years, but even the Japanese does not come close to the performance from the mound of Paul Skenes. In his first 47 MLB starts, the current Dodgers star posted a 3.36 ERA, far from the 1.95 that the Pirates star boasts.
Ohtani made those first 47 starts in an Angels uniform and finished with 19 wins, nine losses and 312 strikeouts in 252 innings. Skenes has 18 wins, 11 losses and has struck out 332 opponents.
In this last section on strikeouts, Skenes and Ohtani are among the select list of 17 pitchers with 300 or more strikeouts in their first 47 MLB starts. The list is headed by Dwight Gooden (407), followed by Japanese pitchers Hideo Nomo (379) and Yu Darvish (378). The fourth and fifth positions are occupied by two pitchers who had an electric start in MLB but then faded: Mark Prior (368) and Kerry Wood (354).
The rest of the top 10 is made up of:
- Matt Harvey
- Dinelson Lamet (337)
- Jose Fernandez (336)
- Paul Skenes (332)
- Hunter Greene
Ohtani, meanwhile, appears at number 13 in this ranking, slightly behind Stephen Strasburg and Jacob deGrom.
A wake-up call
Although Paul Skenes has been brilliant, he still has many pages to write. A brilliant start to his career does not guarantee long-term success, something that can be perfectly illustrated with this list of the best pitchers in MLB history during their first 47 starts.
To get an idea, of the 50 pitchers with the best ERA in their first 47 starts as a starter in the Majors, 34 are eligible for the Hall of Fame at Cooperstown, but the only one who has achieved exaltation is Mike Mussina. This is a wake-up call or a little reminder for Skenes, who must keep fighting and not let his level drop.
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