Pirates’ Paul Skenes wins NL Cy Young award a season after winning Rookie of the Year

Pirates’ right-hander Paul Skenes unanimously won the NL Cy Young award.

Skenes, who finished third in last year’s NL Cy Young Award voting, is the second pitcher to win the award the year after he was named NL Rookie of the Year, duplicating Dwight Gooden’s feat for the Mets in 1984 and ‘85. Fernando Valenzuela is the only pitcher to win both awards in the same season, in 1981 with the Dodgers. 

The election marks the 16th time a National League pitcher has been unanimous in the voting. Skenes joins a list featuring Sandy Koufax three times (1963, ‘65-66), Greg Maddux twice (1994-95) and once each by Sandy Alcantara (2022), Clayton Kershaw (2014), Roy Halladay (2010), Jake Peavy (2007), Randy Johnson (2002), Orel Hershiser (1988),  Gooden (1985), Rick Sutcliffe (1984), Steve Carlton (1972) and Bob Gibson (1968). The American League has had a unanimous winner 12 times: Roger Clemens, Pedro Martinez, Johan Santana and Justin Verlander twice each; Denny McLain, Ron Guidry, Gerrit Cole and Tarik Skubal once apiece.

Skenes becomes the seventh former NL Rookie of the Year recipient to win the Cy Young Award, joining Valenzuela, Gooden, Don Newcombe, Rick Sucliffe, three-time Cy Young Award winner Tom Seaver and two-time Cy Young Award winner Jacob deGrom. The only former AL Rookie of the Year Award recipient to emerge victorious in Cy Young Award voting is three-time winner Justin Verlander.

This marks the third time a Pirates pitcher has won the Cy Young Award. Skenes joins Vernon Law (1960) and Doug Drabek (1990).

With his 10-10 record, Skenes matches deGrom’s 10-9 mark in 2018 for the Mets as the fewest number of victories for a Cy Young Award-winning starting pitcher in a full season.

Since the BBWAA went to a five-player ballot format for the Cy Young Award in 2010, this is the first time the winner received all the first-place votes and the runner-up all the second-place votes. Skenes and the Phillies’ Cristopher Sanchez  were the only pitchers named on every ballot.

Ballots were cast prior to postseason play. They are tabulated on a system that rewards seven points for first place, four points for second place, three points for third place, two votes for fourth place and one point for fifth place.

2025 NL Cy Young

1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th Points
Paul Skenes, Pirates 30 210
Cristopher Sánchez, Phillies 30 120
Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Dodgers 16 11 2 72
Logan Webb, Giants 10 6 5 47
Freddy Peralta, Brewers 4 11 10 44
Nick Pivetta, Padres 7 7
Jesús Luzardo, Phillies 1 3 5
Andrew Abbott, Reds 1 2 4
Zack Wheeler, Phillies 1 1

Below is a breakdown of the 30 individual ballots, submitted by two writers representing each city in the National League. For more information on the voting, see our Voting FAQ.

Name Affiliation Chapter 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th
Charles Odum The Associated Press ATL Skenes Sánchez Yamamoto Abbott Peralta
Kiley McDaniel ESPN ATL Skenes Sánchez Yamamoto Webb Wheeler
Steve Gilbert MLB.com AZ Skenes Sánchez Yamamoto Peralta Webb
Nick Piecoro The Arizona Republic AZ Skenes Sánchez Yamamoto Peralta Pivetta
Sahadev Sharma The Athletic CHI Skenes Sánchez Webb Yamamoto Peralta
Jordan Bastian MLB.com CHI Skenes Sánchez Webb Yamamoto Peralta
Pat Brennan Cincinnati Enquirer CIN Skenes Sánchez Peralta Yamamoto Abbott
C. Trent Rosecrans The Athletic CIN Skenes Sánchez Yamamoto Peralta Abbott
Manny Randhawa MLB.com COL Skenes Sánchez Yamamoto Webb Peralta
Kevin Henry Denver Gazette COL Skenes Sánchez Yamamoto Peralta Webb
Sonja Chen MLB.com LA Skenes Sánchez Yamamoto Webb Peralta
Fabian Ardaya The Athletic LA Skenes Sánchez Yamamoto Peralta Webb
Daniel Álvarez-Montes El Extrabase MIA Skenes Sánchez Yamamoto Webb Luzardo
Christina De Nicola MLB.com MIA Skenes Sánchez Webb Yamamoto Pivetta
Adam McCalvy MLB.com MIL Skenes Sánchez Peralta Yamamoto Webb
Curt Hogg Milwaukee Journal Sentinel MIL Skenes Sánchez Yamamoto Webb Peralta
Tim Britton The Athletic NY Skenes Sánchez Webb Yamamoto Peralta
Jon Heyman NY Post NY Skenes Sánchez Yamamoto Peralta Pivetta
Lochlahn March The Philadelphia Inquirer PHI Skenes Sánchez Yamamoto Peralta Webb
Todd Zolecki MLB.com PHI Skenes Sánchez Webb Yamamoto Peralta
John Perrotto :Pittsburgh Baseball Now PIT Skenes Sánchez Yamamoto Webb Peralta
Noah Hiles Pittsburgh Post-Gazette PIT Skenes Sánchez Webb Peralta Yamamoto
Dennis Lin The Athletic SD Skenes Sánchez Yamamoto Peralta Pivetta
Jeff Sanders San Diego Union-Tribune SD Skenes Sánchez Webb Yamamoto Luzardo
John Shea San Francisco Standard SF Skenes Sánchez Webb Yamamoto Peralta
Susan Slusser San Francisco Chronicle SF Skenes Sánchez Webb Peralta Luzardo
Lynn Worthy St. Louis Post-Dispatch STL Skenes Sánchez Webb Luzardo Yamamoto
Katie Woo The Athletic STL Skenes Sánchez Peralta Yamamoto Pivetta
Bobby Blanco MASNsports.com WAS Skenes Sánchez Peralta Yamamoto Pivetta
Ken Rosenthal The Athletic WAS Skenes Sánchez Yamamoto Peralta Pivetta


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