Pitchers under 24: Paul Skenes ranks fourth all-time

It felt like we were watching last year's Pittsburgh Pirates again yesterday (Thursday), as they fell 7-2 to the Chicago Cubs—even though Paul Skenes pitched five and a third innings, allowing one earned run and striking out ten batters.

Déjà vu.

However, Paul Skenes' performance has written him into Major League Baseball history once again. Déjà vu, yet again.

Skenes turns 24 today (Friday), which means yesterday's start was his last as a 23-year-old. And in his first 67 career starts, he posted a ridiculous 2.12 ERA over 386 innings pitched.

And according to Sarah Langs of MLB.com, that gives him the fourth-lowest ERA by a starter before the age of 24, just behind a certain Babe Ruth with a 2.09 ERA. Dutch Leonard and Bill Doak round out the top four.

No one since 1918 has managed to be as successful on the mound at such a young age as Skenes. It's completely crazy.

And true to form, the man himself had a response that only he could give when Aiden Stepansky of MLB.com asked him how he felt about this crazy statistic.

It's cool. There's still a lot of baseball left.

It's true—we still have plenty of great things to look forward to from Skenes, who has already been selected for the All-Star Game twice and has already won the National League Cy Young Award, all at just 24 years old.

Just imagine what he'll be like at his peak.

Created by humans, assisted by AI.