Choosing the Pittsburgh Pirates' MVP in yet another losing season is an easy task. The vote by the Pittsburgh chapter of the Baseball Writers Association confirmed it.
Right-hander Paul Skenes unanimously won the Roberto Clemente Award on Friday. Left fielder Tommy Pham finished a distant second.
Of course, Skenes is by so far and away the Pirates' best player that voting for anyone else would be a dereliction of duty.
Skenes' record is just 10-10 this season. However, that is solely the function of playing on the lowest-scoring team in the major leagues, not of being a .500 pitcher.
The rest of Skenes' statistics are superb, highlighted by his MLB-best 2.03 ERA. He is fourth in the big leagues with 209 strikeouts.
If WAR is your thing more than traditional measures, the 23-year-old Skenes is the best pitcher in baseball. His 7.4 bWAR is second in the major leagues behind only the 8.9 of New York Yankees right fielder Aaron Judge.
Closer Dennis Santana is second on the Pirates with 2.5 bWAR. That is barely a third of what Skenes has produced.
The Pirates don't even have another 2-win player. Infielder Jared Triolo's 1.9 bWAR is tops among the team's hitters.
Skenes' reaction to being the team MVP was so low-key that it was almost comical.
"It's cool," he said. "Just got to keep going."
The nonchalance is attributable partially to his calm and confident demeanor. That has helped him handle the early-career stardom that includes winning the National League Rookie of the Year award last season, the odds-on NL Cy Young Award favorite this year, and being half of a celebrity couple with gymnast/social media influencer Livvy Dunne.
Most of all, Skenes realizes that being the MVP of a team with a 65-89 record with eight games remaining is relatively meaningless for a pitcher with significantly higher aspirations.
If anything, Skenes' standout performance highlights the awfulness of the Pirates.
He has made 54 starts in the major leagues with a 2.00 ERA. Yet the Pirates are 31-23 when he pitches.
Talk about wasting a guy's talent.