Paul Skenes

Paul Skenes is a hard-throwing Pirates phenom who won the NL Cy Young Award in just his second full MLB season.

Paul David Skenes was born on May 29, 2002, in Fullerton, California, to Craig and Karen Skenes, and grew up in nearby Lake Forest, attending El Toro High School — the same school that produced fellow major leaguers Nolan Arenado and Matt Chapman. Skenes was a standout two-way player throughout his prep career, playing catcher, first base, and third base in addition to pitching, and was named team captain in his senior year before the COVID-19 pandemic cut his final season short. When a Los Angeles Times reporter asked where he saw himself in ten years, Skenes gave an answer that captured his dual ambitions: "Either playing pro ball or flying jets." Skenes initially pursued both paths at once, enrolling at the United States Air Force Academy, where he starred as a two-way player and won the John Olerud Award as the nation's top two-way college player in 2022. Ahead of his junior season, he transferred to LSU to face higher-level competition, and the move paid off spectacularly: Skenes led LSU to the 2023 College World Series championship, was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player, and swept national pitcher of the year honors, including the Dick Howser Trophy. The Pittsburgh Pirates selected Skenes first overall in the 2023 draft, and he reached the majors in under a year, debuting in May 2024 and immediately establishing himself as one of the most dominant young pitchers in baseball, armed with a triple-digit fastball and a distinctive "splinker" pitch that confounds hitters. He won National League Rookie of the Year in 2024, and followed it with the National League Cy Young Award in 2025 after leading the league in ERA — a meteoric rise that has made him, by most estimates, the most talented pitching prospect to reach the majors since Stephen Strasburg.

Power pitcher with triple-digit fastball and sharp breaking balls

Promising young pitcher with exceptional velocity and strikeout ability

• NL Cy Young Award (2025)
• NL Rookie of the Year
• All-Star