Paul David Skenes...Went 13-2 with five shutouts, two complete games, a 1.69 ERA (122.2ip/23er), SEC-record 209 strikeouts, 20 walks and .165 batting average against in 19 starts for the NCAA-champion LSU Tigers in 2023...Took home 2023 D1Baseball Player-of-the-Year honors while also being named the SEC Pitcher-of-the-Year...Won the College World Series Most Outstanding Player award after going 1-0 with a 1.15 ERA and 21 strikeouts in two starts in Omaha in 2023...Captured the Dick Howser Award (national college baseball player of the year) in 2023 after finishing second in the nation in ERA (1.69), third in strikeout-to-walk ratio (10.45) and fifth in hits allowed per nine innings (5.28)...Became the first LSU player to be selected No. 1 overall since Ben McDonald was picked by Baltimore in 1989...Attended El Toro (Calif.) High School, where he was a three-year letterwinner and team captain as a senior...His favorite team growing up was the LA Angels...Spent the first two years of his collegiate career at the Air Force Academy, where he earned the 2022 John Olerud Award as the nation’s best two-way player...Was a member of Cadet Squadron 9...Also saw time at catcher at Air Force Academy...Majored in military strategic studies while at Air Force...Was one of three players featured on the cover of the 2025 edition of "MLB The Show" (also Elly De La Cruz and Gunnar Henderson)...Signed by Pirates scout Wayne Mathis.
2024
Was selected to his first All-Star team; the first Pirates rookie pitcher to ever be named to an All-Star Game, and the first Pirates rookie to get the nod since Tony Womack in 1997 (fourth Bucco rookie overall)...Became the first-ever No. 1 overall pick to make the All-Star Game the season after his draft year...Was named the N.L. Rookie-of-the-Year by the BBWAA; just the second Pirates player to win the award (also Jason Bay in 2004)...Was also named Baseball America’s Rookie-of-the-Year; the second Pirates player to win the honor (also Andrew McCutchen in 2009)... Was named the unanimous winner of the Steve Blass Award (team’s top pitcher) by the local chapter of the BBWAA... Ranked first among all qualified N.L. rookies in ERA, batting average against and WHIP (0.95); tied for second in wins and ranked second in strikeouts and winning percentage (.786)... Was a non-roster invitee during Spring Training, where he went 0-0 with a 3.00 ERA (3.0ip/3h/1r/1er/0bb/3so) in two games (one start)...Started the MLB Spring Breakout game on 3/14 and pitched a scoreless inning (two Ks)...Began regular season with Indianapolis...Made his first start on 3/30 at Louisville and pitched 3.0 perfect innings with five strikeouts (46 pitches)...Had his streak of 13.2 scoreless innings snapped in his fifth start on 4/24 at Omaha, after allowing two runs (one earned) in 4.1ip (71 pitches)...Pitched on four day’s rest for the first time as a pro when he made his start on 5/5 vs. Buffalo; surrendered his first home run and two runs total in 4.1ip while throwing 66 pitches (no-decision)...Was selected to the Major League roster on 5/11; at the time of his promotion, he had the seventh-lowest ERA (0.99) among all full-season minor leaguers and ranked first in the International League in ERA and WHIP (0.91) and third in strikeouts (45) and batting average against (.175)...Made his big league debut on 5/11 vs. Chicago (NL) and was charged with three runs in 4.0+ innings of work while striking out seven (he left the game with a 6-1 lead after allowing the first two runners to reach base in the fifth)...Threw 17 pitches 100 mph or faster in the game on 5/11, including a 101.9 mph pitch that was the fastest recorded by a Pirates pitcher in the pitch tracking era (since 2008)...Those 17 pitches were also the most registered by a starting pitcher in a game in 2024...His seven strikeouts in his debut were the second-most by a Pirates starter 21 years old or younger in their Major League debut, behind only Nick Maddox, who struck out 11 in his MLB debut at age 20...Made his Major League debut just 307 days after being selected No. 1 overall in the 2023 draft, making him the quickest top pick to reach the Majors in 35 years (RHP Ben McDonald of the Orioles made it to the Majors in 1989 in the same year he was drafted)...The last Pittsburgh player to make his MLB debut within a year of being drafted was Barry Bonds (Bonds was drafted in 1985 and made his big league debut in 1986)…Made his second start on 5/17 at Chicago (NL) and struck out 11 batters without allowing a hit in 6.0ip to earn his first Major League win...Became the first Pittsburgh pitcher to strike out 11 batters in a game at Wrigley Field in Pittsburgh’s 1,017th game there...Became the first Pittsburgh pitcher to strike out the first seven batters of a game, two shy of the Major League record of nine set by Miami’s Pablo Lopez on July 11, 2021... Prior to that, German Marquez (Sept. 26, 2018), Jacob deGrom (Sept. 15, 2014) and Jim DeShaies (Sept. 23, 1986) had each recorded a game of eight consecutive strikeouts to open a game...Became just the fourth Pirates pitcher to strike out at least 10 in a game before his 22nd birthday; joining Bob Moose (four times), Nick Maddox and John Candelaria, who was the most recent pitcher to do so in 1975...Became the fourth rookie pitcher all-time to record an outing of 6.0+ IP, 0 hits allowed and 10+ strikeouts and the first since Chris Heston’s no-hitter on June 9, 2015 vs. New York (NL); Houston’s Don Wilson (June 18, 1967 vs. Atlanta) and Texas’ Jim Bibby (July 30, 1973 at Oakland) were both nine-inning no-hitters as well...Gave up one run in 6IP and left with 5-1 lead, but had a no-decision on 5/23 vs. San Francisco (Giants scored five runs in the eighth)...Allowed two runs and whiffed nine batters in 6.0ip while winning his second game on 5/29 at Detroit (Game 2)...Produced two games with 9+ strikeouts and three or fewer hits within his first four Major League appearances, joining Bobby Witt in 1986 and Freddy Peralta in 2018 as the only pitchers since 1900 to accomplish this feat...His nine strikeouts on 5/29 also came on his 22nd birthday; the Pirates franchise record for most strikeouts by a pitcher on their birthday (previous high was eight by Vic Lombardi on Sept. 20, 1949)...Improved to 3-0 with a victory over the Dodgers at PNC Park on 6/5 (5.0ip/3er - 93 pitches)...Became the fourth pitcher in Pirates history to win at least three of his first five career starts and have 30 or more strikeouts; the others were Nick Maddox (1907), Cy Blanton (1934) and John Candelaria (1975)...Struck out eight batters while pitching 6.1 scoreless innings (103 pitches) in a no-decision on 6/11 at St. Louis...Became the second MLB pitcher since 1901 to have 45-plus strikeouts and six or less walks over his first six career appearances, joining Masahiro Tanaka with the Yankees in 2014...Also became the first Pirates pitcher since Jose DeLeon (July 23 to August 15, 1983) to start his career with three wins in his first six starts and record 45 or more strikeouts...Improved to 4-0 with a victory over the Reds at PNC Park on 6/17 (6.0ip/1er - 96 pitches)... Gave up one run and struck out eight in 7.0ip, but had a no-decision on 6/23 vs. Tampa Bay...With 61 strikeouts and eight walks through his first eight appearances, became the only National League pitcher since 1901 to record 60+ strikeouts and fewer than 10 walks through his first eight career appearances; the only other Major League pitcher to accomplish this feat was Masahiro Tanaka of the Yankees in 2014 (66 strikeouts, seven walks)...Gave up one run and struck out nine batters in 6IP, but had a no-decision on 6/29 at Atlanta...Became the first pitcher in Major League history to strike out 70 batters and allow fewer than 12 runs in his first nine games...Gave up two runs in 7IP and won his fifth decision on 7/5 vs. New York (NL)...Recorded seven or more strikeouts in nine of his first 10 career outings, setting the Major League record for most such games within a player’s first 10 career games...Threw seven no-hit innings and struck out 11 batters while winning his sixth decision on 7/11 at Milwaukee; was removed after throwing 99 pitches...Joined Nolan Ryan in 1973 as the only pitchers in MLB history to have two starts in the same season with at least 11 strikeouts over six-or-more no-hit innings...Became one of only four pitchers since 1893 with 10 strikeouts and zero hits allowed in multiple outings in a single season (also Nolan Ryan in 1973, Max Scherzer in 2015 and Justin Verlander in 2022)...Entered the All-Star break with a 6-0 record, a 1.90 ERA (66.1ip/14er), 0.92 WHIP, 89 strikeouts and 13 walks in 11 starts; the strikeout total is the fifth-most in MLB history (since 1901) through 11 starts...Started the All-Star Game on 7/16 at Texas; threw 16 pitches while retiring three of the four batters he faced... Became one of five rookie pitchers to start the All-Star Game, joining Hideo Nomo (1995), Fernando Valenzuela (1981), Mark Fidrych (1976) and Dave Stenhouse (1962)...His 11 starts prior to the break matched Mark Fidrych in 1976 for the fewest in a career entering an All-Star start (Fidrych also made two relief appearances)...Suffered his first loss on 7/23 vs. St. Louis after giving up two runs in 8.1ip and dropping a 2-1 decision; the longest start by a Pittsburgh rookie since Zach Duke went 8.1 innings on Aug. 1, 2005...Won each of his first six decisions - the first Bucco starting pitcher to do so since Zach Duke in 2005 (Emil Yde has the “record” of seven straight in 1924)...Also set Pirates mark for most starts (11) before suffering first career loss (since mound was moved to current distance in 1893)...Pitched 9.0 consecutive hitless innings over two starts on 7/11 (7IP) and 7/23 (2IP)... Struck out seven or more batters in nine consecutive starts from 5/29 thru 7/23 - a franchise record...The nine-game streak matched the MLB record for a rookie, done by both Dwight Gooden with the Mets in 1984 and Brandon Beachy with the Braves in 2011...Gave up two runs (one earned) in 6IP on 7/29 at Houston (no-decision)...Struck out his 100th career batter in his 13th start on 7/29; just the sixth player all-time since 1893 to reach 100 strikeouts in 13 or fewer games and the first since Masahiro Tanaka did so in 2014... Left the game on 8/4 vs. Arizona with a 4-1 lead and a runner on base in the sixth inning, but had a no-decision (5.1ip/2er - 100 pitches)...Posted a 1.99 ERA after 14 starts, making him one of five players in Pirates franchise history to have a sub-2.00 ERA through 14 starts with the team...Walked a career-high four batters and gave up two runs in 6IP while winning his seventh game and snapping Pittsburgh’s 10-game losing streak on 8/16 vs. Seattle...Struck out nine batters over six scoreless innings while winning his eighth game on 8/22 vs. Cincinnati...Gave up three runs (two earned) in 5IP and left with 10-3 lead, but had a no-decision on 8/28 vs. Chicago (NL)...Tied Cy Blanton’s franchise record from 1935 for most strikeouts by a rookie in a season since 1900 (142) while winning his ninth decision on 9/3 at Chicago (NL)...Also matched career high with four walks...Won his 10th game while striking out nine batters and allowing one run in 6.0ip on 9/9 vs. Miami - also set the club rookie record for most K’s in a season...Became the fifth pitcher in MLB history to have 150 or more strikeouts within his first 20 starts, joining Kerry Wood (17 starts), Hideo Nomo (17), Dwight Gooden (19) and Mark Prior (20)...Gave up one run and struck out seven batters in 6.0ip, but suffered his third loss on 9/16 at St. Louis...Became the first pitcher in MLB history to have a sub-2.20 ERA and 150-plus strikeouts in their first 21 games...Gave up two hits and struck out nine batters in five scoreless innings while winning his 11th game on 9/22 at Cincinnati... Became the first pitcher in the Modern Era with 150 strikeouts and an ERA under 2.00 in his first 22 career games...Since the earned run became an official stat in 1913, the only pitcher to record a lower ERA than that over their first 22 appearances that were all starts was Steve Rogers in 1973-74 (1.95)...Made his final start on 9/28 at New York (AL) and retired all six batters he faced...Led all qualified rookies in the month of September with an 0.75 ERA and 34 strikeouts, while ranking fourth in batting average against (.186) and fifth in WHIP (0.92)...Was named the N.L. Rookie-of-the-Month for September...Became the first rookie pitcher to make at least 23 starts and post a sub-2.00 ERA in a single season since Scott Perry with the Philadelphia Athletics in 1918 (1.98 ERA in 44 games/36 starts)...Posted the lowest ERA in all of MLB after making his debut on 5/11...His .198 batting average against was the lowest by a Pirates starting pitcher in team history (minimum: 16 starts)...His 1.96 ERA was the lowest recorded by a Major League rookie pitcher (min: 18 starts) in the Live Ball Era (since 1920).
2023
Threw a total of 6.2 innings in a combined five starts between the Florida Complex League Pirates, Low-A Bradenton and Double-A Altoona after being selected No. 1 overall in the draft earlier in the summer… Tossed 1.0 scoreless inning in his professional debut against the Florida Complex League Twins on 8/10…Was promoted to Low-A Bradenton on 8/15, where he threw 11 of his 16 pitches for strikes in his start that night vs. Lakeland in 1.0 scoreless inning…Faced a total of eight batters in 2.0 scoreless innings in his second start with Bradenton on 8/20 vs. Lakeland…Was promoted to Altoona on 8/21… Was scored upon for the only time after allowing four runs on three hits in 0.2 inning in his Curve debut on 8/26 vs. Akron…Struck out three of the seven batters he faced in 2.0 scoreless innings in his final start on 9/1 at Erie.
