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Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes delivers during the first inning of a baseball game against the Colorado Rockies Sunday, Aug. 24, 2025, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Matt Freed) Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved In Paul Skenes, the Pirates have probably the most exciting and talented pitcher Major League Baseball has seen in close to a generation. Perhaps not since Dwight Gooden debuted with the Mets in 1984 as a 19-year-old and posted a 2.00 ERA in his first two seasons has a young pitcher captured the baseball world’s collective attention so completely. Nearing the end of his second year in the majors, Skenes has numbers that mirror Gooden’s pretty closely. He has a 2.02 ERA since his debut last season, and like Gooden, Skenes was the National League Rookie of the Year in his first season and has a very serious case to win the Cy Young this year, just like Gooden did in 1985. But there’s a glaring difference between the two pitchers. Where Gooden won 17 games in his rookie year and a league-leading 24 in his second season, Skenes has not received the same kind of run support. The Pirates pitcher managed to go 11-3 in 2024 but has an 8-9 record this season, despite having the lowest ERA in the National League. Though pitcher win-loss records don’t carry the same significance as they did when Gooden was starting his career, the fact that Skenes very likely will finish with a losing record in 2025 is a microcosm of the problem the Pirates have. It’s one that is two-fold, as well. First, they are wasting Skenes’ talent in the present. He and the rest of the starting staff in Pittsburgh have the seventh-best wins above replacement ranking in baseball, according to Fangraphs. They outrank teams…

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Filed under: News - @ August 27, 2025 11:25 pm