Paul Skenes has made history.
The Pittsburgh Pirates ace became the first player in LSU history to win the Cy Young Award. The second-year right-hander pitcher took home the National League Cy Young on Wednesday night, beating out Philadelphia Phillies’ Cristopher Sanchez and Los Angeles Dodgers’ Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
It was a unanimous vote as Skenes took all 30 first-place votes.
Despite posting a 10-10 record, Skenes was magnificent on the mound this season for the Pirates. In 187.2 innings pitched, he gave up 136 hits, struck out 216 hitters (second-most in NL), while posting a MLB-best 1.97 ERA and a 0.95 WHIP.
Skenes was also a National League Cy Young Award finalist in 2024 and finished third in last season’s voting. That rookie season, he posted an incredible 1.96 ERA to go along with an 11-3 record. He struck out 170 batters over 133 innings of work.
He was voted the 2024 NL Rookie of the Year, and he has been the NL starting pitcher in each of the past two All-Star Games.
Skenes was taken first overall by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 2023 MLB Amateur Draft. He was the second LSU player to be selected first overall in history, joining Ben McDonald.
In his lone season with the Tigers, Skenes went 13-2 on the season with a 1.69 ERA with just 20 walks and an SEC-record 209 strikeouts. He was named the National Player of the Year by D1Baseball, SEC Pitcher of the Year, and the winner of the Dick Howser Trophy, and helped LSU win the national championship.
Before Skenes, there had only been two other pitchers in LSU history to be named a finalist.
Aaron Nola of the Philadelphia Phillies, finished third in the 2018 National League Cy Young voting, and Kevin Gausman of the Toronto Blue Jays, finished third in the 2023 American League Cy Young voting.