Where does Paul Skenes rank among Rookie of the Year winners with fewest innings?

The answer may surprise you.

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Pittsburgh Pirates v New York Yankees | Jim McIsaac/GettyImages

Paul Skenes winning the 2024 National League Rookie of the Year Award confirmed what we already knew: he's special. Like, once-in-a-generation special.

The Pittsburgh Pirates flamethrower put together one of the greatest rookie pitching campaigns of all time during his debut season – which, mind you, wasn't even a full season. The Pirates handled their young superstar with kid gloves, keeping him in Triple-A Indianapolis to start the season and limiting him to no more than two innings per appearance in the minors.

Skenes didn't make his Major League debut until May 11; but once he did, he never looked back. He finished with an 11-3 record and a 1.96 ERA over his 23 starts, setting a Pirates rookie record with 170 strikeouts and becoming the first rookie pitcher to start in the All-Star Game since 1995.

The 22-year-old was also a finalist for the 2024 NL Cy Young Award, but he ultimately fell short due to factors that were out of his control. Few would argue that he wasn't one of the best pitchers in the league from May 11 onward, but it still wasn't a complete body of work.

Where does Pirates' Paul Skenes rank among Rookie of the Year winners with fewest innings?

Ultimately, Skenes' limited innings at the MLB level were the biggest argument against him in the 2024 NL Cy Young Award race. The honor went to Chris Sale of the Atlanta Braves – and rightfully so. But Skenes' shortened season certainly didn't seem to work against him in the Rookie of the Year race, as he earned 23 out of 30 first-place votes.

This begs the question – with 133 Major League innings under his belt in 2024, where does Skenes rank among all-time Rookie of the Year winners with the fewest innings pitched?

The short answer is 14th, behind Butch Metzger of the 1976 San Diego Padres and ahead of Jacob deGrom of the 2014 New York Mets. But that ranking doesn't tell the whole story; among starting pitchers who have won the Rookie of the Year Award, Skenes' 133 innings rank – you guessed it – first. deGrom, who was also a starter, previously held the title with 140.1 innings when he won the award a decade ago.

So, Skenes may have captured this year's award with a smaller body of work, but 133 innings was all he needed. Imagine what will happen when the Pirates unleash him in 2025.

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