Not even because he is the Cy Young winner does he convince. Paul Skenes’ pitching does not fill the eye of some expert voices, such as Trevor Plouffe, a former Minnesota Twins player. In his consideration, the Pirates pitcher is far from the pedestal led by players such as Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Tarik Skubal.
During the program Baseball Today, Trevor made a comparison to explain why he does not measure Skenes, Yamamoto and Skubal by the same parameters
It’s great, it’s amazing (Tarik Skubal), he doesn’t walk, he strikes out hitters. Yes. I’m going to include Yamamoto in that. How can we not talk about this guy? We just saw him at the most important moment. We don’t talk enough about Yamamoto
Even Yamamoto is not as good as Skubal. The Detroit Tigers pitcher has him captivated. For him, he is a pitcher who is above the rest because he knows how to dominate left-handed hitters.
I think that will change going into next year, but right now we’re seeing several players that we could put in that category. Now, it’s OK, I gave you those three: Skubal, Skenes, Yamamoto. I think I’m going… I think I’ll stick with Skubal. I think there’s something about the way he neutralizes left-handed hitters as best he can. That’s where I would go.
Paul Skenes’ numbers aren’t bad
He had a remarkable season in 2025, posting a 1.97 ERA and a 0.95 WHIP over 187.2 innings. Leading the league in ERA, he achieved one of the best WHIPs among starters. However, his win-loss record ended up being an even 10-10.
Yamamoto, second on Plouffe’s list, posted a 2.49 ERA, 201 strikeouts and a WHIP of around 0.99 in 2025, while Skubal had a 2.21 ERA and struck out 241 batters, with a WHIP of 0.891.
Paul Skenes joins Roger Clemens and Randy Johnson club
He made history by being named the unanimous winner of the National League Cy Young Award. The fact that he received all 30 first-place votes in the balloting put him in an elite club alongside legendary pitchers such as Roger Clemens, Randy Johnson and others.
The achievement was also historic. He is only the second pitcher in MLB history to win Rookie of the Year in one season and then the Cy Young the following year. He matched the feat of Dwight Gooden between 1984 and 1985.
If you also consider that he and Tarik Skubal started the All-Star Game and won the Cy Young in the same year, they both replicated the only other time this had happened. Randy Johnson and Roger Clemens did it in 2001.
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