Why Paul Skenes Is The Most OBVIOUS Rookie Of The Year Ever

With the season reaching its end, there naturally are award conversations to be had, and there's at least a few awards that are for sure set. MVP, it's going to be Aaron Judge and Shohei Otani, both should be unanimous. The American Rookie of the Year award is a good argument to be had, but then comes the National League Rookie of the Year award, and it's the total opposite. There shouldn't be a conversation, but naturally people like to argue, they like to pick the player that's on their team, and it's all understandable. I get it. But this year's National League Rookie of the Year doesn't deserve to just win the award, but also deserves to get the Judge and Otani treatment in unanimously winning it. There's no question, and I'm of course talking about Paul Skates. Really quick if you're breathing, like the video and subscribe if you haven't yet, or just wait to see if you enjoy the video and then make a decision, that works too. Now I hate any notion that the other Rookie of the Year candidates are getting disrespected, they're not at all, which is why I want to highlight what each candidate has done. Shota Imanaga doesn't really feel like a rookie, and that's because he's not fully one considering he's 31 years old and pitched at the highest level in Japan for years before pulling in Eddie Murphy and coming to America, but he's still a rookie, and there is absolutely nothing more to ask from him if you're the Cubs. He quickly became one of my favorite players in all of baseball purely off his vibes. He's so wholesome and just has a good vibe. Oh, and he's also an incredible pitcher. Key word. Pitcher. Imanaga is the definition of a pitcher who's mastered the art of pitching. He doesn't blow you away with a crazy fastball, but he does blow guys away with a fastball that he knows where to locate along with every other pitch in his arsenal. He barely walks anyone, he strikes people out but doesn't rely on that, he's led the Cubs in innings this year by far, was named an all-star, has won 15 games, his ERA is under 3, I mean it's been awesome to see how seamlessly he's made the transition from Japan to the big leagues. Next up are the Jackson brothers, Jackson Churio and Jackson Merrill, and we'll start with Churio. Churio has been great for a guy who's not even legally able to drink yet. After struggling for the first couple months pretty badly, he quickly adjusted and has been one of baseball's best hitters since. He's got a promising future on a winning Brewers team, and same goes for Jackson Merrill, a promising future on a good Padres team. A 21-year-old who's played almost every game this year for the Padres, and not only has he been really good in basically every way you can be good as a hitter, but he's also been the most clutch player in baseball this year, and it's not even close. There was a point this season where Merrill hit 4 game-tying home runs in the 8th inning or later in the span of 12 days, becoming the first player in big league history to do that in a span of 50 days or less in the regular season, and as of today, the man has 6 game-tying or go-ahead home runs in the 8th inning or later this year, more than anyone in baseball. It's been truly incredible, and he deserves all the praise in the world along with Jackson Churio and Shota Imanaga. And saying Paul Skeens deserves to unanimously win the award isn't a disrespect to any of them, but more so the biggest praise imaginable to Skeens that despite all the success from the other candidates, Skeens has not only become the favorite after not even beginning the year in the big leagues and just being in college a year ago, but he's gone as far as to clearly be the favorite, no question. What the other guys have done is incredible, obviously, but what Paul Skeens has done this year is beyond historic, and the biggest reason for this is when looking at what he's done this year, a lot of what he's done is so great not just in the context of a rookie, but in the context of anyone, of any pitcher or player, ever. For example, as of this video, Paul Skeens is a 1.99 ERA this season. He is only the second player to post an ERA of less than 2 through 22 career appearances since 1913, not second rookie since 1913, second player, period, and the only pitcher to record a lower ERA than that over his first 22 appearances that were all starts, Steve Rogers in 1973 through 74. If Captain America is the only freaking guy who's done anything like this other than yourself, you're doing something right. I do think it's important to add the context that this man was literally in college a year ago and AAA to begin this year, yet nothing has changed since he entered the big leagues, nothing. It's as if he's still in the minor leagues or college or literally, nobody can really figure him out, it's unbelievable. It's so rare to ever go to the big leagues this quick after getting drafted, let alone find success, let alone become the best pitcher in the league, which yes, I'm going to make that claim. I think he is, but it's not about what I say, the stats show he is. The ZRA is again, 1.99, he's averaging 11.5 strikeouts per 9 innings, which is great. He doesn't walk too many people, he doesn't allow many guys on base, I mean there's absolutely nothing more he can do, he's beyond filthy. The most exciting thing about him is the fastball for obvious reasons, it's the definition of power, just a straight bullet coming in, but then he's got what's being called a splinker. So a combination of a split finger and changeup, something that wasn't even planned, it just came to be. Apparently when Skeams was getting ramped up to throw in games after the draft, he started playing catch one day, and the ball accidentally came off of his index finger rather than his middle finger, which was the normal way of doing it, and the ball moved how it moves now. So he was like, okay cool, I'm going to keep doing that. And it's become one of the nastiest pitches in baseball that big leaguers cannot hit. It's virtually unfair, and thanks to the Pitching Ninja on Twitter, we can see exactly how this mix of pitches works and devastates hitters. Look at this, these are all of his pitches at once and where they each end up. How anyone can figure out where it's going and then barrel it up on the fly is beyond me. But I guess it's also beyond the hitters too, considering how much Skeams has dominated them. Yeah, everyone in the rookie of the year conversation deserves their praise, they've all been so good. But saying Skeams is the obvious winner isn't disrespect, more so a testament to just how great he's been, to just how historic he's been. We're only a year in and Skeams is already on track to become a very rich man with the Dodgers or Yankees. Too soon? My bad, Pittsburgh. Let me know your thoughts and thank you for watching.