A year after Paul Skenes shined in the Spring Breakout prospect game, the 22-year-old right-handed pitcher who became baseball’s biggest story last season will make his first Opening Day start for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Pirates manager Derek Shelton informed Skenes that he would be on the mound to start the season against the Miami Marlins at 4:10 p.m. on March 27 at loanDepot Park.

Skenes, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 MLB Draft, was named rookie of the year after a season in which he started for the National League in the All-Star Game and finished third in NL Cy Young voting.

The 6-foot-6, 260-pound right-hander went 11-3 with a 1.96 ERA, 0.95 WHIP and a team-best 170 strikeouts while holding opponents to a .198 batting average – the lowest ever by a Pirates starting pitcher with at least 16 starts – in 133 innings over 23 starts. It’s the lowest ERA by a rookie pitcher in baseball’s live ball era, and Skenes posted the lowest ERA in MLB after making his debut May 11.

In three Grapefruit League starts, Skenes is 1-0 and has allowed four earned runs on 12 hits and five walks while recording 12 strikeouts.

Although Skenes seemed the obvious choice coming off an historic season, Shelton picked him over 28-year-old Keller, who debuted in 2019 and is both the Pirates’ longest-tenured and highest-paid player this season ($15,411,500) after signing a five-year, $77 million contract extension in February 2024.

Keller made his first Opening Day start last year, also against the Marlins, and allowed five runs (four earned) on seven hits and two walks with three strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings in the 6-5 win.

A 2023 All-Star who has a 36-50 career record in six seasons, Keller went 11-12 with a 4.25 ERA and 1.30 WHIP with 166 strikeouts in 178 innings over 31 starts last season. It marked the second consecutive season he led the Pirates in games started, after setting a franchise record for most strikeouts by a right-hander (210) in 32 starts in 2023.

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