Pirates right-handed Paul Skenes has been named National League Rookie of the Year for 2024, the Baseball Writers Association of America announced. Outfielder Jackson Merrill of the Padres finished second as an outfielder Jackson Chourio of the Brewers finished third. The Pirates will not earn a PPI bonus based on this result, but Skenes will earn a full year of service time despite his late call-up.

Skenes, now 22, has quickly developed into one of the best throwers in the sport. Eighteen months ago he was still pitching for Louisiana State University. The Pirates selected him with the first overall pick in the 2023 draft, with many considering him as close to MLB-ready as a draft pick could be.

The Bucs let him get his feet wet as a professional, playing five minor league games in late 2023 but not letting him pitch more than two innings in any of them. There was some speculation that he could make the Opening Day roster in 2024, but the Pirates decided to build him up slowly. He was started in Triple-A, but his appearances usually stayed around three or four innings.

Despite the kid gloves, Skenes proved it was time to cut loose, posting a 0.99 average during those minor league outings. That got him promoted to the majors in May, less than a year after he was drafted.

His relatively young age and lack of professional experience were easily overwhelmed by his incredible talent. With a triple-digit fastball, a devastating splinker and several other pitches in his arsenal, Skenes threw 133 innings over 23 big league starts. In that time, he had a 1.96 ERA, a 33.1% strikeout rate, a 6.2% walk rate and a 51.3% groundball rate. He is 4.3 wins above replacement in the eyes of FanGraphs, which puts him 10th among all pitchers in the majors this year, despite throwing fewer innings than everyone before him.

The timing of his call-up and this win are both notable. The collective bargaining agreement between the league and the players includes measures intended to encourage the promotion of top prospects, the promotion incentive for prospects, and also to discourage service time manipulation. If a player is on certain top 100 prospect lists and is promoted early enough in the season to earn a full year of service, that player can earn a bonus draft pick for his club, depending on the award vote. On the other hand, if such a player is not promoted early enough to get a full year, but still manages to finish in the top two in the Rookie of the Year voting, that player earns retroactive strength for a full year of service.

Had Skenes been promoted earlier this year, the award would have given the Bucs an additional draft pick. But since he was held until May, they were not eligible for that choice. Skenes, on the other hand, will now have a full year of service. That’s important for him as he’s now set to hit free agency after the 2029 season, his age-27 campaign. Under previous collective bargaining agreements, his freedom of choice would have been one year further in the future.

There’s more to come.