Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and for as Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes was in his first season in the big leagues, he wasn’t the only rookie to have a stellar season.
MLB.com’s Jim Callis ranked the rookies from the 2024 season based on their long-term value and had Skenes at No. 3. The Pirates ace trailed Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Jackson Chourio who was No. 1 and San Diego Padres center fielder Jackson Merrill at No. 2.
Callis noted how good all three players were in 2024 and how one could make an argument for either of the three without receiving much pushback.
“You could list those players in any order and easily support your argument,” Callis writes. “The call here is the position players over Skenes because of the fragility of pitchers, and Chourio over Merrill because he’s a year younger and has more upside. It will be great fun to watch how their careers play out over the next 15-20 years.”
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Skenes had a historic rookie season, going 11-3 with a 1.96 ERA over his 23 starts and he set a Pirates rookie record with 170 strikeouts. Skenes was the first pitcher in MLB history to have an ERA below 2.20 and over 150 strikeouts in their first 21 games and the second pitcher since 1913 to have an ERA below 2.00 through their first 22 appearances.
Skenes is a finalist for the NL Rookie of the Year and the Cy Young award, making him the first pitcher to be in the top three for both awards since Jose Fernandez of the Miami Marlins in 2013. The Pirates star is the fifth pitcher in MLB history to be a finalist for both awards, and the late great Los Angeles Dodgers ace Fernando Valenzuela is the only pitcher to win both when he accomplished the feat in 1981.
Skenes was also the first rookie pitcher since Dodgers right-hander Hideo Nomo in 1995 to start an All-Star game.
“Among rookies age 22 or younger who worked at least 125 innings, Skenes posted the best ERA+ (214), the best ERA (1.96) and the second-best K/BB ratio (5.3) since the lively ball was introduced in 1920, the third-best strikeout rate (11.5 per nine innings) and the sixth-best hit rate (6.4 per nine),” Callis wrote.
Skenes’ teammate, rookie right-hander Jared Jones also made the list at No. 15.
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The winner of the NL Rookie of the Year will be announced on Monday at 6 p.m. ET on MLB Network. Skenes, Chourio and Merrill are the three finalists for the award in the National League.
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BETMGM SPORTSBOOK LINE: Panthers -31.5; over/under is 153.5
BOTTOM LINE: Pittsburgh hosts VMI after Damian Dunn scored 23 points in Pittsburgh’s 86-62 victory against the West Virginia Mountaineers.
Pittsburgh went 22-11 overall with a 13-5 record at home during the 2023-24 season. The Panthers averaged 6.3 steals, 4.5 blocks and 8.7 turnovers per game last season.
The Keydets are 1-0 on the road. VMI is third in the SoCon scoring 86.4 points per game and is shooting 45.4%.
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
Nov 17, 2024; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin and defensive tackle Cameron…
Nov 17, 2024; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin and defensive tackle Cameron Heyward (97) celebrate a 18-16 victory over the Baltimore Ravens at Acrisure Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Barry Reeger-Imagn Images
After 31 games, the Arizona Fall League concluded for the Pittsburgh Pirates prospects.
Pittsburgh had nine prospects play, with middle infield prospect Termarr Johnson playing in just 11 games before leaving to play for Team USA in the Premier12 Tournament. Pittsburgh had three players make the AFL All-Star game; Right-handed pitcher Derek Diamond, left-handed hitting outfielder Sammy Siani and catcher Geovanny Planchart.
Here are how the Pirates players fared for the Scottsdale Scorpions in the AFL.
Siani was the best of the bunch, batting .375/.492/.667 with three home runs and 18 RBIs in 80 at-bats and he scored 21 runs across 22 games. He also made an impact on the bases with six stolen bases. Siani also had a 15-game hitting streak and tallied a hit in all but one game.
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Siani also had two hits in the All-Star game. Of his 30 hits in the AFL, five were doubles.
Pittsburgh infield prospect Kervin Pichardo saw more playing time as the season progressed. He batted .309/.424/.527, hit one home run and had 12 RBIs in his 55 at-bats. Pichardo turned in his best performance of the AFL when it mattered most, going 3-4 with three RBIs in the Scorpions’ 7-6 win over the Glendale Desert Dogs on Thursday to advance them to the play-in semifinals.
Pichardo had seven extra-base hits with five doubles and two triples. He also scored 13 runs and walked 11 times across 17 games.
Planchart hit two home runs and had six RBIs and batted .294/.432/.500. He had the fewest at-bats among the Pirates prospects with 34.
Johnson tallied 40 at-bats and slashed .250/.444/.475. The Pirates’ No. 3 prospect and No. 75 prospect in baseball hit one home run, drove in four runs and he walked 14 times. Of his 10 hits, five were extra-base hits.
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Diamond was the lone pitcher to make the All-Star game from the five pitching prospects Pittsburgh sent to the AFL and started in that game for the National League.
He pitched in seven games, including making one start, amassing a 2.45 ERA and he had a whip of 0.82. in his 11 innings pitched. Diamond struck out 12 batters compared to walking just two and he allowed seven hits.
Khristian Curtis made the most starts of the Pirates’ prospects, starting three games across his seven appearances. Curtis, who is the Pirates’ No. 27 ranked prospect by MLB Pipeline, went 1-1 with a 4.67 ERA, struck out 16 batters and walked eight in his 17.1 innings pitched.
Curtis’ lone win came in the first game of the AFL. He pitched three shutout innings and struck out two.
Valentin Linarez was lights out coming out of the bullpen for Scottsdale. Across his 10.1 innings pitched, he allowed just three hits and one run while striking out 11 batters, though, he walked eight and hit one. He had the lowest batting average against for the Scorpions with a .086.
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Brandan Bidois numbers were heavily skewed by his first outing of the AFL when he gave up six runs in just an inning of work. Across his other six outings, he allowed just one run.
Bidois had seven appearances and pitched 7.2 innings, allowed seven hits, walked nine batters and struck out 14. He finished the AFL with an 8.22 ERA.
Eddy Yean went 0-2 with a 6.75 ERA in his nine appearances out of the bullpen. In his 9.1 innings pitched, he allowed 13 hits and seven runs and he struck out eight batters.
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