Paul Skenes has some hardware to show for his impressive 2025 season.
The Pittsburgh Pirates starter was named the National League Cy Young Award winner, the league announced Wednesday.
It marks the first Cy Young for Skenes, who’s only in his second major-league season. He also became the third player in MLB history to win Rookie of the Year and Cy Young in his first two seasons, joining Dwight Gooden and Fernando Valenzuela.
Skenes was a unanimous selection, earning all 30 first-place votes.
The 23-year-old was nearly untouchable in his first full season with the Pittsburgh Pirates, racking up an MLB-best 1.97 ERA in 32 starts. Despite his unbelievable stuff, he finished with a 10-10 record, but had an MLB-best 2.36 FIP and NL-best 0.948 WHIP.
He also tallied 216 strikeouts in 187.2 innings and was named an All-Star for the second time in as many years. His fWAR is second only to fellow Cy Young-winner Tarik Skubal.
The Fullerton, Calif., native finished third in Cy Young voting last season — his rookie year — behind only superstars Chris Sale and Zack Wheeler. He beat out Phillies lefty Christopher Sanchez and Dodgers righty — and World Series sensation — Yoshinobu Yamamoto for the award.
Skenes is only the third Pirates player to win the Cy Young, joining Doug Drabek (1990) and Vern Law (1960).
