Paul Skenes making MLB.com's All-Rookie Team overshadows problem for Pirates

Pittsburgh Pirates rookie phenom Paul Skenes earned yet another accolade for his stellar debut season last week, as he was named to MLB.com's 2024 All-Rookie Team.

"It matters not that he didn’t make his debut until May," MLB.com's Jonathan Mayo wrote of Skenes. "He was one of the most dominant starting pitchers (rookie and non) in all of baseball once he arrived."

Skenes, the No. 1 pick in the 2023 MLB Draft, led all rookie pitchers with 4.3 fWAR, which also ranks him in the top 10 among all pitchers with 100 or more innings this year. He also ranked in the top three among all MLB pitchers in xFIP (2.54), K/9 (11.5) and K/BB% (26.8%).

In other words, Skenes is more than deserving of a spot on MLB.com's All-Rookie Team for 2024. But the Pirates shouldn't start patting themselves on the back just yet.

Paul Skenes making MLB.com's All-Rookie Team overshadows problem for Pirates

The penny-pinching Pirates like to pride themselves on drafting and developing, as they price themselves out of the trade and free-agent markets due to their unwillingness to spend on big contracts. But touting Skenes as a product of the club's player development pipeline would be wildly misleading. Skenes was already a generational talent before he entered the Pirates' system; he didn't need much developing.

Plus, if the Pirates plan to cite their draft-and-develop strategy as a competitive advantage over their opponents, it's worth noting that five other players on MLB.com's All-Rookie Team came from Pittsburgh's National League Central Division rivals. The Chicago Cubs and Milwaukee Brewers each had a pair of representatives named to the squad, while the St. Louis Cardinals had one.

With the exception of Skenes and Cubs starter Shota Imanaga, the rest of the NL Central rookies named to the All-Rookie Team were all position players. Only two of the Pirates' top five prospects according to MLB Pipeline are position players, and one of them – 2024 first-round pick Konnor Griffin – hasn't even played above rookie ball yet.

So, the Pirates should think twice before celebrating Skenes' inclusion on the 2024 All-Rookie Team; if anything, it just shows how far behind they are compared to the rest of their division rivals.

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