The Pittsburgh Pirates missed the postseason for the ninth straight season in 2024 as they finished with a record of 76 wins and 86 losses.
Although the Pirates have never won the National League Central and haven’t made the postseason since 2015, they did have a bright spot this season.
Rookie starting pitcher Paul Skenes had a dominant first season in the MLB and is a finalist for both the Rookie of the Year Award and the National League Cy Young Award.
Stats show just how impressive Skenes’ rookie season was for the Pirates.
According to MLB Network on ‘X,’ Skenes tied the MLB record for the lowest ERA by a rookie pitcher since the stat became official in the year 1912.
Lowest ERA by a rookie pitcher since the stat became official in 1912 📊
Paul Skenes (2024) – 1.96Jeff Tesreau (1912) – 1.96Jeff Pfeffer (1914) – 1.97Scott Perry (1918) – 1.98Reb Russell (1913) – 1.99 pic.twitter.com/cTItZeHHEm
Skenes started 23 games for the Pirates in 2024 and held a record of 11 wins and three losses with a 1.96 ERA and 170 strikeouts in 133.0 innings pitched.
His 1.96 ERA is the lowest by a rookie pitcher since the stat became official in 1912 where Jeff Tesreau also finished with a 1.96 ERA.
No rookie starting pitcher has posted a sub-two ERA since 1918 when Scott Perry had an ERA of 1.98.
Skenes was not only selected to the all-star game in his rookie season but he was selected to start the game for the National League.
The Pirates have not been successful in the past handful of seasons, but now their organization has hope after Skenes’ emergence.
Skenes will look to build off of his dominant rookie season in 2025 and help the Pirates try to win the NL Central for the first time since joining the division in 1994.
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