Pittsburgh Pirates phenom Paul Skenes has taken baseball by storm since the day he debuted for the team and will now be starting next week’s All-Star game after just 11 starts in the majors, which is a deserved reward considering how otherworldly dominant he has been.
Not only is Skenes starting in the All-Star game, but he is now rapidly ascending up the board in the running for the NL Cy Young award.
According to NBC Sports Bet, Skenes now has the third-best odds to win Cy Young, as his odds opened at +12500 when the season started and have now dropped all the way to +500.
Chris Sale of the Atlanta Braves and Zack Wheeler of the Philadelphia Phillies are the two pitchers with shorter odds than Skenes at the moment, with both sitting between +120 and +180 in most sportsbooks.
Skenes is 6-0 with a 1.90 ERA and 89 strikeouts in 66.1 innings so far, and after giving up three earned runs in his debut he hasn’t given up more than two in any start since.
He hasn’t walked more than two batters in any start and has gone at least five innings in every start since his debut, while also going six innings in nine of those ten.
Any way you look at it, Skenes has exceeded the insane hype he had and will only see his Cy Young odds get shorter and shorter if he keeps pitching like this.
His Pirates are 8-3 in his starts and hopefully they can keep this superstar in town for the long-term unlike when they had Gerrit Cole.
