It's been 35 years since the Pittsburgh Pirates had a Cy Young Award-winner, which is one of the longest droughts for an MLB team.

But records were meant to be broken.

After being selected with the first pick in the 2023 MLB Draft, Pirates ace Paul Skenes has quickly became one of the best pitchers at the professional league-level. Throughout his two season in the majors, Skenes has managed to record a 2.01 ERA and a 0.95 WHIP while also tallying his 375 strikeouts. And despite his current win/lose record, Skenes is in the mix to win the prestigious award after a remarkable 2025 season. 

Here's everything you need to know about Skenes' potential Cy Young run this season.

Over the course of the 2025 season, there has been two pitchers outside of Skenes that have emerged as potential Cy Young winners - Philadelphia Phillies starting pitcher combo Zack Wheeler and Cristopher Sanchez. Both pitchers have put up strong efforts this season, which has helped the Phillies during their current playoff run.

Unfortunately for Wheeler, the veteran pitcher suffered a season-ending injury earlier this week, putting him in a tough spot to potentially expand his resume. As for his battle against Sanchez, Skenes checks every box outside of record. The former first overall pick in the 2023 MLB Draft holds a better ERA (2.05 to 2.66), more strikeouts (187 to 181) and higher WAR (6.5 to 6.3) over Sanchez this season.

This is not the first time we've seen a starting pitcher with a Cy Young-caliber resume despite his record. In 2019, former New York Mets Jacob DeGrom was easily one of the best pitchers in the MLB. He finished his season with a 2.43 ERA, along with recording a 0.97 WHIP, 255 strikeouts and a 7.3 WAR. However, DeGrom had a lack of offensive production from his organization like Skenes, as he ended the year with an 11-8 record.

Obviously, Skenes still has roughly four starts left before the end of the season, so there is time for him to make up lost ground. Skenes will likely hit the 200-strikeout mark and if he continues his recent success, his ERA will finish well below DeGrom's for the season. The main key that will help his case is if he can achieve a win percentage over .500, as there has been no NL starting pitcher in the common era to win the Cy Young with a sub .500 win percentage. Skenes is slated to pitch against the Dodgers and the Orioles for his next two starts, making them a critical piece to his Cy Young campaign.

Depending on how well Skenes does to finish out the season, the Pirates star pitcher is on his way to winning his first Cy Young Award.

In order to solidify himself, picking up a few quality starts and wins to round out his season will be the main keys to him landing the prestigious award. Wins are not an end-all-be-all for Skenes since he does not control the team's offensive efforts, but boosting his quality starts could be the perfect counter to sub-.500 win percentage.

To give prospective, DeGrom finished his 2019 season with 72 percent of his starts being considered a quality start. Right now, Skenes stands at 64 percent of his 28 starts this season as quality wins.