MLB Network’s Top 100 Right Now list is meant to reflect the best players in baseball at this moment. That is exactly why Paul Skenes being ranked No. 7 is a massive miss.
This is not about potential.
This is not about hype.
This is about production.
Paul Skenes is the reigning 2025 National League Cy Young Award winner, and what he has done to begin his major league career places him among the most dominant pitchers the game has ever seen.
Seventh is not just low. It is wrong.
Through his first two MLB seasons, Paul Skenes has delivered dominance at a level rarely seen, even among elite arms.
Career MLB statistics:
• Record: 25–7
• ERA: 2.18
• WHIP: 0.94
• Innings pitched: 312.1
• Strikeouts: 402
• Strikeouts per nine innings: 11.6
• Opponent batting average: .189
Those numbers are not just excellent. They are historic for a pitcher this early into his career.
Skenes did not take years to adjust. He arrived fully formed and immediately became one of the most difficult pitchers to hit in baseball.
Skenes’ 2025 season removed any remaining doubt.
That year, he:
• Led the National League in ERA
• Ranked among league leaders in strikeouts
• Consistently pitched deep into games
• Dominated playoff caliber lineups
The result was a runaway NL Cy Young Award, making him one of the youngest pitchers in modern history to earn the honor.
That award alone should prevent him from ever falling outside the top tier of any active player ranking.
Paul Skenes combines traits that almost never coexist.
Elite velocity.
Elite command.
Elite durability.
Elite composure.
His fastball regularly reaches triple digits with late life. His breaking pitches generate swings that look more like survival attempts than competitive at bats. Hitters cannot sit on anything, and guessing wrong usually ends the plate appearance.
There is not a pitcher in baseball that opposing lineups fear more right now.
If the list is truly about the best players right now, then performance must outweigh reputation.
Paul Skenes:
• Is a Cy Young winner
• Owns elite career numbers
• Controls games every fifth day
• Alters postseason odds by himself
There is no rational argument for six players being more impactful than him in the current version of Major League Baseball.
The Pirates do not have a future ace.
They have a present one. A generational one.
Paul Skenes is already building a Hall of Fame level foundation, and he is doing it while still early in his career. Ranking him seventh minimizes dominance that has been obvious from his very first start.
Paul Skenes was robbed.
A Cy Young Award winner.
One of the greatest career starts ever.
Career statistics that already rival established legends.
MLB Network will eventually correct this ranking. The performance demands it.
Until then, Pirates fans and baseball purists already know the truth.
Paul Skenes is not just one of the best pitchers in baseball.
He is the best pitcher in baseball right now.
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