Paul Skenes Marquee

Paul Skenes was the first overall pick in 2023, reached Pittsburgh eleven months later, and started the All-Star Game as a rookie. He won National League Rookie of the Year that season and the Cy Young Award the next, at twenty-three.

He throws a fastball in the upper nineties and a pitch of his own design somewhere between a slider and a sinker, and his career earned run average of 1.96 is the lowest of any starter through his first two seasons in the modern era.

Born in Fullerton, California in 2002, Skenes played college baseball at Air Force before transferring to Louisiana State, where he won a national championship in 2023.