Pittsburgh Pirates rookie Paul Skenes put together an incredible 2024 season, becoming one of the best young players in all of baseball.
While he spent the entirety of the season adding to his baseball resume, he also added $2.1 million to his bank account this week through Major League Baseball's pre-arbitration bonus system.The most recent collective bargaining agreement introduced a $50MM pool that is divided among players who have yet to accrue enough service time to reach arbitration. The goal was to help highly-performing young players get paid earlier in their careers.
Skenes finished his rookie season at 11-3 with that 1.96 ERA. He struck out 170 batters in just 133.0 innings and looked every bit the part of an ace moving into 2025. Skenes made his major league debut in early May after just a handful of minor league starts and instantly made his presence felt.