Pittsburgh Pirates rookie sensation Paul Skenes has taken the baseball world by storm -- and Thursday's outing was basically no different from his other 10 starts.
Skenes tossed seven no-hit innings in the Pirates' 1-0 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers, throwing 65 of 99 pitches for strikes and matching his career high with 11 strikeouts. He ran into trouble in the second inning when he hit a batter with two outs and issued a walk, but he escaped that jam with a strikeout and retired the final 16 batters he faced. The Brewers had just two hard-hit balls against him, a lineout and a fly ball; mostly, they had no chance.
Maybe it's a little premature to call Skenes the best pitcher in the majors right now, just 11 starts into his career. But his stuff does look almost supernatural: the triple-digit fastball, the splitter/sinker hybrid that's so good it has its own name (the "splinker"), the three different types of breaking (two sliders and a curveball) and even an occasional changeup.
There's also no denying: This is one of the best, most dominant, and absolutely most electric starts to a career for a pitcher.
Skenes improved to 6-0 with a 1.90 ERA in his first 11 starts. He has held batters to a .202 average and a .570 OPS while striking out 34.9% of those he has faced. He doesn't have enough innings to qualify for the leaderboards, but if he did, he'd rank first among starting pitchers in ERA, first in strikeout rate and tied for third in lowest OPS allowed.
He has already been named an All-Star and MLB announced on Friday that he will be the National League starter.
"I'm not going to say no to starting it," he said after Thursday's win. "That would be pretty dang cool."
The last rookie pitcher to start the All-Star Game? Hideo Nomo. He's on our list of the 10 best starts ever for a pitcher through 11 starts. Let's see where Skenes ranks.
10. Dwight Gooden, 1984 New York Mets
Through 11 starts: 4-3, 3.07 ERA, 67⅓ IP, 45 H, 33 BB, 87 SO, 1 HR
With his upper-90s fastball and big breaking curveball, Gooden was a 19-year-old sensation. He had four double-digit strikeout games through 11 starts -- but, really, his unforgettable rookie season didn't kick in until two months into the season and it really took off down the stretch. He had a 1.07 ERA over his final nine starts, culminating in back-to-back 16-strikeout games in September. His 11.4 K's per nine was a record at the time -- the first starting pitcher to ever surpass 11 strikeouts per nine innings.
9. Mel Stottlemyre, 1964 New York Yankees
Through 11 starts: 9-2, 1.97 ERA, 87 IP, 68 H, 34 BB, 42 SO, 3 HR
Stottlemyre is remembered now as a longtime major league pitching coach, but he was a late-season sensation for the Yankees in 1964, winning nine of his 12 starts in August and September and then another in the World Series (he started and lost Game 7, however, pitching on two days of rest). He would go on to win 164 games in the majors and make five All-Star teams. He and Kazuhisa Ishii of the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2002 are the only pitchers since World War II to win nine of their first 11 starts.
8. Kerry Wood, 1998 Chicago Cubs
Through 11 starts: 6-3, 2.92 ERA, 64⅔ IP, 44 H, 35 BB, 98 SO, 4 HR
Wood's stuff, compared to the league at the time, might have been even more impressive than Skenes', with a blazing fastball and a huge Wiffle slider -- we might call it a sweeper today. His 98 strikeouts through 11 starts is the most ever, and in his fifth career start he tied the MLB record with 20 strikeouts (while allowing just one hit with no walks). His 105 game score remains the highest ever for a nine-inning game.
7. Jered Weaver, 2006 Los Angeles Angels
Through 11 starts: 8-0, 2.14 ERA, 71⅓ IP, 50 H, 19 BB, 58 SO, 4 HR
This one went under-the-radar compared with the rest of our list, but Weaver didn't lose a game until his 13th start -- and even then, he allowed only one run that game.
6. Stephen Strasburg, 2010 Washington Nationals
Through 11 starts: 5-3, 2.97 ERA, 63⅔ IP, 54 H, 17 BB, 86 SO, 5 HR
Like Skenes, Strasburg was the No. 1 overall pick in the draft, and he is the only pitcher who compares to Skenes in hype leading up to his major league debut. Strasburg debuted June 8 and immediately showed why he had been called the best pitching prospect ever when he fanned 14 in seven innings. Through eight starts he had a 2.03 ERA -- like Skenes, being limited to 100 pitches per outing -- but then had a couple of so-so outings. And then in his 12th, his elbow ligament snapped. It's fair to say that Strasburg's stuff wasn't quite as remarkable after Tommy John surgery, but he had an excellent career with two top-five Cy Young finishes and that heroic run in the 2019 postseason before injuries led to a premature end to his playing days.
5. Dontrelle Willis, 2003 Miami Marlins
Through 11 starts: 8-1, 2.13 ERA, 71⅔ IP, 62 H, 21 BB, 68 SO, 3 HR
Willis was fun, because he had that high leg kick and wasn't really a top prospect when the Marlins called him up in May -- and he went on a remarkable run, winning seven in a row at one point. The league figured him out a bit after that and he finished his rookie season with a 3.30 ERA, but he did help the Marlins win the World Series that year.
4. Hideo Nomo, 1995 Los Angeles Dodgers
Through 11 starts: 5-1, 2.30 ERA, 74⅓ IP, 43 H, 40 BB, 96 SO, 6 HR
Nomo was 26 years old when he became the first player in MLB from Japan since Masanori Murakami, who pitched two seasons for the San Francisco Giants in the 1960s. Possessing that unique windup with his hands above his head and a corkscrew, twisting delivery, Nomomania soon spread across the country. He allowed seven runs at Coors Field in his second start, but then went on a dominant run that included a 14-strikeout game, a 16-strikeout game and then back-to-back shutouts in his 11th and 12th starts. He was 6-1 with a 1.99 ERA when he started the All-Star Game, and he would finish the season leading the NL in strikeouts (236), K's per nine (11.1) and fewest hits per nine (5.8).
3. Paul Skenes, 2024 Pittsburgh Pirates
Through 11 starts: 6-0, 1.90 ERA, 66⅓ IP, 48 H, 13 BB, 89 SO, 7 HR
Skenes certainly has a case for No. 1 on this list: He hasn't lost a game, he has dominated, and he has had two outings now where he hasn't allowed a hit. But the game is a little different nowadays, and he isn't asked to pitch as deep into games as the two pitchers I'm ranking ahead of him. That's not his fault, but a generation or two ago, Skenes wouldn't have been removed after throwing 99 pitches while tossing a no-hitter, that's for sure.
If there's one knock against him so far, it's that he has allowed seven home runs -- the first three on sliders, the past four on his four-seamer. Maybe that's the scary thing: What if his command on the fastball can get better?
2. Mark Fidrych, 1976 Detroit Tigers
Through 11 starts: 9-2, 1.79 ERA, 100⅓ IP, 76 H, 22 BB, 42 SO, 5 HR
"The Bird" was a 21-year-old, lightly regarded rookie who made a couple of relief appearances before making his first start only when a teammate was out with the flu. He tossed a two-hit complete game victory. Within weeks, he was the biggest star in baseball: He talked to the ball, strutting around with nervous energy after each out and patting the dirt around the mound with his bare hand. He had a big mop of curly hair -- thus the nickname comparing him to the "Sesame Street" character -- and was the quickest worker in the league, throwing one diving, moving sinking fastball after another.
That innings total is correct: He averaged more than nine innings per start in his first 11 starts, tossing 10 complete games, including two starts of 11 innings. That took him up to the All-Star Game, which he also started, and in his first start afterward he threw an 11-inning shutout. Fidrych would end up second in the Cy Young voting to Jim Palmer -- throwing an incredible 24 complete games in 29 starts. He injured a knee shagging flies in spring training of 1977, although he pitched well enough when he returned in late May to get another All-Star selection. But then he hurt his throwing arm in July and was never the same. Would Fidrych have had a great career? That's up for debate. He didn't strike out many batters, and that doesn't usually lead to a long, successful career. But for one year he was the sensation of baseball.
1. Fernando Valenzuela, 1981 Los Angeles Dodgers
Through 11 starts: 8-2, 1.89 ERA, 90⅔ IP, 60 H, 27 BB, 79 SO, 3 HR
Valenzuela had pitched 10 times in relief in 1980 (and tossed 17⅔ scoreless innings), so he sometimes gets left off lists like this, but he didn't make his first start until Opening Day of 1981 -- and that was only because Jerry Reuss had injured a leg. With his eyes looking up to the heavens in the middle of his delivery, the portly 20-year-old southpaw tossed a shutout, relying on a screwball. He allowed one run in throwing another complete game in his next start. Then he threw three more shutouts in a row. Somewhere in there, Fernandomania was born.
Valenzuela won his first eight starts, tossing eight complete games along the way -- five of them shutouts. He was drawing sellout crowds on the road. He tossed another complete game in his ninth start, although he finally lost. The heavy workload and lack of rest -- he had started several times on three days off -- finally caught up to him and he gave up 12 runs over his next two starts. Soon after, baseball would go on strike until August. Upon returning, Valenzuela would throw three more shutouts, giving him eight in 25 starts -- and he won the NL Rookie of the Year and Cy Young awards.