Paul Skenes, the impressive Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher who is quickly becoming the most complete pitcher in all of baseball, was awarded the Cy Young trophy this Wednesday as the best pitcher in the National League in just his second season.

The award obtained Skenes's win inevitably brings to mind the name of Mexican Fernando Valenzuela. The beloved Dodgers player remains the only one in history to have won both Rookie of the Year and Cy Young in the same season, an achievement that highlights his legendary career and could still help him enter the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. Skene's 23-year-old was the Rookie of the Year in 2014 and now wins the Cy Young. He did so unanimously, receiving all 30 first-place votes from the Baseball Writers' Association of America for a total of 210 points. Sanchez finished second and Yamamoto third in the voting. Cristopher Sanchez, a Dominican left-hander for the Philadelphia Phillies, received all 30 second-place votes (unanimous for that position) for a total of 120 points. Yoshinobu Yamamoto, the Dodgers' Japanese ace who was the World Series MVP, finished third with 72 points, the result of 16 third-place votes, 11 fourth-place votes, and 2 fifth-place votes. Skene's record was 10-10, the fewest wins for a starting pitcher who won the Cy Young Award in a full season, but his ERA was 1.97—leading the league—and he struck out 216 batters in 187.2 innings. In 10 of his starts, he did not allow a run or allowed only one. Sanchez went 13-5 with a 2.50 ERA and 212 strikeouts in 202 innings. Yamamoto, in his second season in the majors, went 12-8 with a 2.49 ERA and 201 strikeouts in 173.2 innings. He led the league in fewest hits allowed per 9 innings (5.9).

The historic legacy of “El Toro” Valenzuela

Skenes, who finished third in the Cy Young Award voting in his rookie year,He becomes only the second pitcher to win the Cy Young Award a year after being named the National League's best rookie. Dwight Gooden was the other to achieve this in 1985 with the NY Mets.

Valenzuela was the Rookie of the Year and the Cy Young in 1981, the year in which he also led Los Angeles to the World Series title, an astonishing trifecta that is virtually impossible to match.

Skenes is the seventh former National League Rookie of the Year winner to later receive the Cy Young, along with Valenzuela himself, Gooden, Don Newcombe, Rick Sutcliffe, Tom Seaver, and Jacob deGrom, in addition to Justin Verlander, the only one to have done so in the American League.

Tarik Skubal repeats as American League Cy Young

In the American League, Tarik Skubal was the Cy Young winner for the second consecutive year, the fifth in the history of the circuit to achieve this feat, along with Denny McLain, Jim Palmer, Roger Clemens, and Pedro Martinez.

The left-hander from The Detroit Tigers, who posted a 13-6 record with a 2.21 ERA and 241 strikeouts in 195 innings, received 26 first-place votes and 4 second-place votes, totaling 198 points. Garrett Crochet of the Boston Red Sox finished second with 132 points, including the remaining 4 first-place votes, and Hunter Brown of the Houston Astros was third with 80 points.