Pirates' Paul Skenes Named Team MVP
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PITTSBURGH — Pittsburgh Pirates right-handed starting pitcher Paul Skenes earned recoginition for his great play this season, taking home important team awards.
The Pittsburgh chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) announced Skenes as their winner of both the Roberto Clemente Award for team MVP and the Steve Blass Award for their best pitcher.
Andrew McCutchen also won the Chuck Tanner Award, given to the player who is most cooperative with the media. He has won it three straight seasons since coming back to the team in 2023 and is the only three-time winner along with Neil Walker (2011, 2013, 2014).
Skenes was a unanimous pick for both awards and is the first pitcher to win the Roberto Clemente Award since right-handed relief pitcherJoel Hanrahan in 2011.
It is also his second straight Steve Blass Award, the first Pirates pitcher to do so consecutively and joins fellow right-handed starting pitcher Mitch Keller as the two Pirates pitchers to win the award twice.
Outfielder Tommy Pham finished second in voting for the Roberto Clemente Award, with both outfielder Bryan Reynolds and right-handed relief pitcher Dennis Santana finished tied for third place. Keller finished second in voting for the Steve Blass Award, with Santana coming in third place.
Skenes appreciated the award when he spoke with the media and said that he's grown on-and-off the field, but wants to see team success in the future.
“I don’t really come into the year with any expectations in terms of numbers and anything like that for myself. 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.”
Skenes has had a sensational season, putting himself amongst the best pitchers in baseball after an incredible rookie campaign in 2024.
He has a 10-10 record over 31 starts, a 2.03 ERA over 181.2 innings pitched, 209 strikeouts to 42 walks, a .199 opposing batting average and a 0.96. He also has a 7.2 WAR, a 10.35 K/9, a 2.08 BB/9 and a 4.98 K/BB.
Skenes ranks amongst the best pitchers in baseball, with the lowest ERA, the third most strikeouts, the fourth lowest WHIP, tied for the seventh most innings pitched and the eighth lowest batting average. He also has the best WAR for any pitcher, the sixth best BB/9, the eighth best K/9 and the 11th best BB/9.
He started for the NL in the All-Star Game again in 2025, becoming the first pitcher ever that started consecutive All-Stars in their first two seasons in the MLB.
Skenes also reached 200 strikeouts in his start vs. the Baltimore Orioles at Camden Yards on Sept. 10, becoming just the sixth pitcher to achieve that feat in the live-ball era (2020).
He is trending towards the National League Cy Young Award, coming off a 2024 campaign when he finished third in Cy Young voting, while winning the NL Rookie of the Year Award and earning All-MLB First Team honors.
Dominic writes for Pittsburgh Pirates On SI, Pittsburgh Panthers Pn SI and also, Pittsburgh Steelers On SI. A Pittsburgh native, Dominic grew up watching Pittsburgh Sports and wrote for The Pitt News as an undergraduate at the University of Pittsburgh, covering Pitt Athletics. He would write for Pittsburgh Sports Now after college and has years of experience covering sports across Pittsburgh.