Pirates ace Paul Skenes sweeps team's MVP, top pitchers awards, as voted by BBWAA
Paul Skenes got an early start on what should be a busy awards circuit, as the Pittsburgh Pirates ace swept the top two team honors.
Skenes was named Friday the recipient of the 2025 of the Roberto Clemente Award for Team MVP and the Steve Blass Award for best pitcher, as voted on by members of the Pittsburgh chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America.
Skenes was a unanimous decision on both awards, and is the first Pirates pitcher to win team MVP since the Steve Blass Award was introduced in 2012. Before him, the last Pirates pitcher to win team MVP was closer Joel Hanrahan in 2011.
“I don’t really come into the year with any expectations, in terms of numbers and anything like that for myself,” Skenes said. “Obviously, I pitched pretty well this year, but I’ve grown a lot and I’ve learned a lot. That’s the thing I’m most excited about. I learned what I need to do and then also what we need to do. It’s been a solid year for me, but there’s room for us to get better, so we need to focus on that in the offseason.”
The 23-year-old right-hander, a two-time All-Star, is 10-10 and leads the majors with a 2.03 ERA and the National League with an 0.96 WHIP. Skenes has 19 quality starts in 31 outings and 209 strikeouts, one shy of Mitch Keller’s franchise record by a right-hander set in 2023.
This is Skenes’ second Steve Blass Award, having won in 2024. Skenes joins Keller (2022-23) as the only Pirates to win the award twice.
Left fielder Tommy Pham finished second in voting for the Roberto Clemente Award, followed by a tie for right fielder Bryan Reynolds and righty reliever Dennis Santana for third. Keller finished second for the Steve Blass Award, followed by Santana in third place.
Designated hitter Andrew McCutchen repeated as the Chuck Tanner Award winner, or the player who is most cooperative with the media. It is the third straight year McCutchen has won the award, joining Neil Walker as the only three-time recipients (2011, 2013-14). Isaac Mattson finished second for the Chuck Tanner Award, followed by a three-way tie for third place between Keller, catcher Henry Davis and infielder Jared Triolo.
Kevin Gorman is a TribLive reporter covering the Pirates. A Baldwin native and Penn State graduate, he joined the Trib in 1999 and has covered high school sports, Pitt football and basketball and was a sports columnist for 10 years. He can be reached at kgorman@triblive.com.
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