GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
In just his second season in Major League Baseball with the Pittsburgh Pirates, former LSU pitcher Paul Skenes is already of Nolan Ryan legend.
Every time he pitches, you almost have to watch or monitor the game, as history could be made.
With Ryan, it was yet another no-hitter possibility every time he toed the rubber as he threw an MLB record seven of those along with an MLB record tying 12 one-hitters with Bob Feller. Ryan also holds the record for two-hitters with 18 and three-hitters with 31.
From late in the game on April 27, 1983, through his retirement on September 22, 1993, with the Texas Rangers, every time Ryan struck somebody out, it was another MLB record as he became the all-time strikeout leader that April night in Montreal as a Houston Astro with 3,509, breaking Walter Johnson’s record. Ryan, now 78, struck out 200 batters in a season 15 times and 300 six times before finishing with 5,714 strikeouts.
Skenes, 23, broke 200 strikeouts in a season in his first full MLB season on Wednesday with eight for 203 overall with zero walks in a two-hit shutout at Baltimore over five innings. He left with a 1-0 lead, but as usual the Pittsburgh bullpen couldn’t hold. The Orioles got one in the eighth and one in the 10th for a 2-1 win, and Skenes remained 10-9 on the season, but with an MLB best 1.96 earned run average (ERA) in 178 innings.
PAUL SKENES JUST KEEPS PUTTING UP THE NUMBERS
Skenes was 11-3 with a 1.96 ERA in his National League Rookie of the Year season in 2024 and would have won the ERA title, but he did not have enough innings at 133 as he began the season at Triple-A Indianapolis.
The only pitcher in MLB history to start an All-Star game in his rookie and sophomore season, Skenes reached yet another milestone last month. On Aug. 24, he made his 50th career start and struck out seven with no walks in a seven-inning three-hitter for a 4-0 win in Pittsburgh.
That left him with a 2.02 ERA in his first 50 starts. Since the Live Ball era began in 1920, that is the best ERA through the first 50 starts since Oakland’s Vida Blue of Mansfield compiled a 2.01 ERA.
“Just got to do it in the next 50, and the 50 after that,” Skenes told reporters after the Aug. 24 game. “Consistency is the biggest thing, I feel. Been pretty consistent to this point. Just got to keep going.”
Now, imagine how many wins Skenes would have, if he was on a good team. Pittsburgh was last in the National League Central on Thursday at 64-81 after finishing last in the Central in 2024 at 76-86.
Still, Skenes has a chance to become the first to win Rookie of the Year and the Cy Young back-to-back since Dwight Gooden with the Mets in 1984-85.
“The award itself is out of my hands,” Skenes said. “It’s up to the voters. If you keep doing the work and pitch well, it’s going to take care of itself, whether you win it or not. It’s the same as Rookie of the Year last year. That’s how I look at it.”
Ryan had the MLB’s best ERA in 1987 at 2.76 and led baseball in strikeouts with 270, even though he was 8-16 on the 76-86 Astros, who finished third in the National League West. He still finished fifth in the Cy Young voting.
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