Absurd Paul Skenes Stat Through 59 Starts Will Leave MLB Fans Stunned

The Pittsburgh Pirates have an ace on their hands that every team in baseball wishes they could have in Paul Skenes.

One thing that is always interesting to see early in each Major League Baseball season is how pitching numbers look early in a campaign. With every start, the numbers get skewed because of the small sample size of innings pitched. So, for example, you can see someone's ERA balloon after one bad outing.

It's much more difficult to lower it quickly than it is to increase it. For example, Garrett Crochet of the Boston Red Sox saw his ERA balloon up from under 4.00 to 7.58 on Monday alone after allowing 10 earned runs against the Minnesota Twins. Crochet didn't make it through the second inning.

Skenes had an outing like that himself on Opening Day. He pitched 2/3 of an inning against the New York Mets and allowed five earned runs. Again, he didn't even make it through a full inning. A few weeks later, his ERA is already down to 4.00 because he has been electric in three straight starts since Opening Day. He has pitched 17 1/3 innings across his last three starts and has given up just three runs over that stretch. He's electric and is on a heater right now.

On Monday, popular X account Codify Baseball shared a stat on X that all baseball fans, regardless of the team you root for, you see. Skenes has now made 59 starts throughout his career to this point and has allowed zero runs in more starts (21) than any other number of runs.

"Earned runs allowed by Paul Skenes in his 59 MLB Starts: 0 runs → 21 starts, 1 run → 16 starts, 2 runs → 12 starts, 3 runs → 4 starts, 4 runs → 4 starts, 5 runs → 2 starts. That's completely ridiculous."

Earned Runs Allowed By Paul Skenes
In His 59 MLB Starts:

0 runs → 21 starts
1 run → 16 starts
2 runs → 12 starts
3 runs → 4 starts
4 runs → 4 starts
5 runs → 2 starts

That's completely ridiculous. pic.twitter.com/Oy7RdR28Rs
— Codify (@CodifyBaseball) April 14, 2026

They aren't wrong at all. That is a ridiculous stat. If we look just at the games in which he has allowed zero runs, that would be 35.6 percent of his total starts. That's ridiculous. If you add in the games in which he's allowed one run, that would be 62.7 percent. That means that when Skenes takes the mound every fifth day, there is a 62.7 percent chance that the Pirates need to score just two runs to have a lead, at least when Skenes exits.

There isn't another pitcher in baseball doing this right now. Not even two-time reigning Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal. And Skenes is just 23 years old. He shouldn't be anywhere near his peak right now. For most players, they are just trying to figure things out at this age. Skenes is dominating. Imagine what he's going to look like in a few years, like when he's 28 years old?

We're watching potential history right now at the very beginning. Skenes won his first Cy Young Award last year at 22 years old after logging a 1.97 ERA in 32 starts. The year before, he had a 1.96 ERA in 23 starts. Baseball fans need to be paying attention to this.

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