Pirates' Paul Skenes achieves MLB history after only 10 career starts

By this point, most baseball fans know Paul Skenes as the Pittsburgh Pirates' rookie flamethrower. And on Friday night, Skenes made MLB history, ensuring he will be remembered for quite some time no matter what happens throughout the rest of his career.

Skenes has recorded seven or more strikeouts in nine of his 10 appearances, setting the MLB record for the most strikeouts within a pitcher's first 10 career outings.

The 22-year-old Fullerton, Calif. native struck out eight batters in seven innings while giving up only two runs and four hits during the Pirates' 14-2 win over the New York Mets. Skenes is now 5-0 with a 2.12 ERA so far on the season. He also has 78 total strikeouts and has pitched seven innings in nine of his 10 starts.

Even though it's tough to predict someone will set a new record in a sport with such a rich history, a Hall of Fame pitcher-turned-analyst isn't all that surprised.

"I thought that with the stuff he has, he could handle the style of hitting that exists today," said John Smoltz to Fox Sports MLB writer Rowan Kavner during an interview on June 25.

While Skenes is far from the first MLB rookie to catch fire and own the headlines, he's now sparking comparisons to some legendary rookie seasons. Forty years after Dwight Gooden dominated the competition and finished the 1984 season as the runner-up for the National League Cy Young Award, Skenes is building a special rookie campaign of his own.

In that 1984 season, Gooden went 17-9 with a 2.60 ERA, 276 strikeouts and posting a 1.07 WHIP. Just over a decade later, Hideo Nomo became a global phenomenon when he recorded 236 strikeouts in 28 starts for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1995. Just a few years later, baseball fans were blessed by watching Kerry Wood throw one of the single greatest pitching performances ever with his 20-strikeout game in only his fifth start.

More recently, and the all-time rookie Skenes has been compared to frequently, Stephen Strasburg struck out 68 with a 2.03 ERA and only 14 walks through his first eight starts in 2010.

But beyond just looking at how Skenes stacks up against legendary rookie seasons of the past, it's amazing to think he has accomplished something no one else has before this early in his career.

Professional baseball has been in existence dating back to the formation of the National League in 1876 and the Pirates franchise was established in 1882, but it's Skenes who has managed to impose his will over hitters more than any other rookie pitcher.

Only time will tell where Skenes' 2024 season will rank among the best years for a rookie pitcher, but it's now officially historic no matter what.