Paul Skenes wins NL Cy Young Award

Paul Skenes outvoted Cristopher Sánchez and Yoshinobu Yamamoto to win his first Cy Young

In his second season in the Major Leagues, Pittsburgh Pirates right-hander Paul Skenes won the National League Cy Young Award unanimously, the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) announced Wednesday.

“As I look back on my baseball career up to this point, I remember being recruited into college as a catcher,” Skenes said. “I kept getting better, I started pitching and I got better on the mound. I never thought I’d get this far. I never thought I’d be in the big leagues, much less win a Cy Young. So things don’t always go the way you plan. But if you persevere, surround yourself with good people and work hard, you’ll accomplish exactly what you need to do, whatever that may be.”

Skenes, 23, beat Dominican left-hander Cristopher Sánchez of the Philadelphia Phillies and Japanese right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto of the Los Angeles Dodgers to be the member of the Pirates who wins the Cy Young, along with Vern Law (1960) and Doug Drabek (1990).

Last year, Skenes had a 1.96 ERA to win Rookie of the Year and place third in the Cy Young race in his debut. In 2025 he finished with a 1.97 earned run average and 206 strikeouts in 187.2 innings and 32 outings. He becomes the fifth pitcher in history to win the Cy Young Award in his first or second season in the Major Leagues (all won in their second year): Fernando Valenzuela (1981), Dwight Gooden (1985), Bret Saberhagen (1985) and Tim Lincecum (2008).

Since Justin Verlander in 2022 (1.75), he is the first pitcher with an ERA under 2.00, and the fourth in the live-ball era (since 1920) to post such a low ERA at his age.

Information from Major League Baseball was used in this story.