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- Jacob Rhee

Few athletes have ever had a better summer than the one Paul Skenes put together in 2023. He won the Dick Howser Trophy - college baseball’s Heisman - then brought a national title back to Baton Rouge. Two weeks later, Skenes was selected with the first pick in the draft, and received the largest signing bonus in the history of the sport.

Fast-forward a year, and things have only gotten better for the MLB rookie.

Some bitter folks have argued that Skenes doesn’t deserve to start the game, given that he’s only made 11 appearances for Pittsburgh. I was admittedly in this camp at first, with my Reds fandom making it perpetually difficult to think objectively about a player on a division rival. But after some deliberation, I realized that it’s not Skenes’ fault that he had to make the traditional courtesy trip through the minors before debuting. The kid has been the best pitcher in the world for two months; he has absolutely earned this stage.

The more important discussion is about what we do with this season historically if Skenes continues to embarrass the league in the second half. Let’s say he drags this mediocre Pirates team into the playoffs and finishes the year with 25 starts. I’d argue that it’s the most impressive pitching campaign of the 21st century.

Young hurlers are simply not supposed to have elite-level success in the bigs. It took Max Scherzer six seasons to post a sub-3.00 ERA. Justin Verlander needed seven. Skenes’ ERA currently sits at 1.90. That is eye-popping stuff; if you’ve watched him throw, you know that it’s not a fluky number in the slightest. He really is this good. Here’s how Skenes’ first 11 starts of his rookie year compare to the first 11 starts of the two greatest pitching seasons that I’ve personally ever witnessed.

Skenes’ stats don’t exactly look out of place there. The lone differentiating factor between the three is their ages. Kershaw was a spry 26 when he accepted his MVP after that legendary 2014 campaign. deGrom was 30 years old when he collected his Cy Young following that iconic 2018 season. Skenes just turned 22, and he’s already keeping pace with generational guys at their apexes.

Accepting Skenes’ greatness is no easy task for me; Cincinnati is going to have to see this dude 30 times over the next decade, and I won’t enjoy it. But he’s in the midst of something truly special, and it’s hard not to be in awe. Pittsburgh hasn’t been to the World Series in 45 years; if Skenes keeps dealing like this, that drought may not last for much longer.

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