Despite finishing with a .500 record, Paul Skenes is considered the consensus favorite to win the National League Cy Young Award. The Pittsburgh Pirates ace is now one step closer to making history.

Skenes was named a finalist for the NL Cy Young by the Baseball Writers Association of America on Monday night. The other NL Cy Young finalists are Philadelphia’s Cristopher Sanchez and the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Yoshinobu Yamamoto. The winner will be announced Nov. 12.

The 23-year-old right-hander, who went 10-10 this season, could become the first starting pitcher to win the Cy Young with a .500 record or worse. Los Angeles Dodgers closer Eric Gagne won it in 2003 with a 2-3 record, 1.20 ERA, 0.69 WHIP and an MLB-best 55 saves.

Skenes was dominant in every other statistical category. He led the major leagues with a 1.97 ERA and 217 ERA+ and 0.5 home runs per nine innings, and led the NL with a 0.948 WHIP and 2.36 FIP. The 6-foot-6, 260-pounder also set a franchise record for strikeouts (216) by a right-hander in 187 2/3 innings over 32 starts (20 quality starts).

The metrics also favor Skenes, as he led the majors in pitching run value (42), ranked in the 99th percentile in fastball run value (27) and in the 97th percentile in off-speed run value (nine), per Baseball Savant. Opponents batted .199 against Skenes, whose 7.6 bWAR ranked fourth amongst all MLB players and second only to Sanchez (8.0) amongst all pitchers.

The No. 1 overall pick of the 2023 MLB Draft, Skenes is a two-time All-Star starter and won NL Rookie of the Year honors in 2024, when he finished third in Cy Young voting after being promoted to the majors in mid-May and going 11-3 with a 1.96 ERA, 0.947 WHIP and 170 strikeouts in 133 innings over 23 starts (15 quality starts).

The Pirates had two finalists for the Rawlings Gold Glove in shortstop/third baseman Jared Triolo and left fielder Tommy Pham, but neither won the award. Triolo won the NL Gold Glove for utility fielder in 2024.

The Pirates did have a winner of a Rawlings minor league Gold Glove in 19-year-old shortstop Konnor Griffin, who is ranked the No. 1 prospect in baseball. Griffin, a 2024 first-round pick (No. 9 overall), won the organization’s minor league Honus Wagner Player of the Year and the Bill Mazeroski Defender of the Year awards.

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