All-Star starting pitcher Paul Skenes of the Pittsburgh Pirates has been voted the National League Rookie of the Month for September and outfielder Wyatt Langford of the Texas Rangers has been voted the American League Rookie of the Month for September, in addition to being named AL Player of the Month for September. The announcements were made earlier today on MLB Network.

Skenes claimed his first Rookie of the Month award and is the first Pirates rookie to win since his teammate Ke’Bryan Hayes won in September 2020. He is the Pirates first rookie hurler to be honored since Gerrit Cole in September 2013 and is one of three pitchers to win the award this year, joining Houston’s Spencer Arrighetti (August) and New York’s Luis Gil (May). Langford drew his second honor after winning the award in May and is one of 13 Rangers rookies to win the award (16th occurrence). Among those 13 players, Langford joins his teammate Josh Jung and Nomar Mazara as the only Rangers rookies to win twice. Along with his AL Player of the Month honor, Langford is one of nine players (11th occurrence) to win both awards in the same calendar month, joining Aristides Aquino (August 2019); Aaron Judge (June and September 2017); Gary Sánchez (August 2016); José Abreu (April and July 2014); Yasiel Puig (June 2013); Mike Trout (July 2012); Buster Posey (July 2010); and Ryan Braun (July 2007). Among the group, Judge,
Sánchez, Abreu, Trout, Posey and Braun were each named Jackie Robinson Rookie of the Year for their respective league.

Paul Skenes, Pittsburgh Pirates (@paulskenes)
• Across six starts, the 22-year-old posted a 3-1 record with a 0.75 ERA (2 ER/24.0 IP), 34 strikeouts, a 0.92 WHIP, a .186 opponents average and 12.75 strikeouts per 9.0 innings.
• Among pitchers with at least five starts last month, the California native led the Majors in ERA and allowed the fewest runs (2). He was one of six pitchers with at least five September starts to not allow a home run and his two earned runs were tied for the fewest with Beau Brieske.
• The National League starting pitcher at the Midsummer Classic struck out nine batters on September 9th against Miami and September 22nd at Cincinnati, marking his sixth and seventh games with at least nine strikeouts. The right-hander finished the year with 170 strikeouts, setting a new Pirates rookie franchise record. Following his debut on May 11th, he ranked third among all pitchers behind only Triple Crown winners Tarik Skubal (175 SO) and Chris Sale (173 SO).
• The first overall selection in the 2023 MLB Draft allowed just two hits on September 22nd at Cincinnati, marking his fifth start of the year in which he allowed two-or-fewer hits. Overall, he allowed less than five hits in 15 of his 23 starts and less than three hits in seven of his turns on the mound.
• The Louisiana State University and Air Force Academy product did not walk a batter across his final two starts and finished his rookie campaign yielding just 32 walks. Skenes became the fifth Major League rookie since 1900 with at least 150 strikeouts and fewer than 40 walks in a single season, joining Shota Imanaga (2024); Chris Paddack (2019); Walker Buehler (2018); and Noah Syndergaard (2015).

Wyatt Langford, Texas Rangers (@wyattlangford8)
• The 22-year-old hit .300 (30-for-100) with eight homers, 20 RBI, seven doubles, 13 walks, 25 runs scored, seven stolen bases, a .610 slugging percentage and a .386 on-base percentage in 26 games last month.
• The Florida native led the AL in homers and runs scored; tied for the AL lead in extra-base hits (15); ranked second in slugging, OPS (.996) and total bases (61); tied for fourth in stolen bases; and tied for fifth in hits (30) and RBI.
• The fourth overall pick in the 2023 MLB Draft hit a walk-off grand slam on September 3rd against the Yankees, marking the ninth walk-off grand slam in Rangers’ history (including Postseason) and the first since Nelson Cruz ended Game 2 of the 2011 ALCS with his blast. Along with hitting for the cycle on June 30th at Baltimore and hitting an inside-the-park home run on April 28th against Cincinnati, he became the first rookie and second player in Baseball history to accomplish all three feats in the same season, joining Hall of Famer Jackie Robinson (1948).
• The University of Florida product also hit a grand slam on June 22nd against Kansas City, joining Pete Incaviglia (1986) as the only rookies in Rangers’ history with multiple grand slams in a single season. Langford homered in consecutive games on September 2nd and 3rd against New York (AL) and on September 27th and 28th at Los Angeles (AL). He closed the year with a longball in four of his final seven games.
• The outfielder tallied a hit in 21 of his 26 games in September, reaching base safely in 22 of the contests. He had two doubles and a home run on September 17th against Toronto, marking his second game of the year with at least three extra-base hits. Langford became the first Rangers rookie since David Murphy in 2007 to have multiple games of at least three extra-base knocks.

Others receiving votes for NL Rookie of the Month included All-Star outfielder Jackson Merrill (.309, 4 HR, 13 RBI, 9 2B, 5 BB, 10 R, .568 SLG) of the San Diego Padres; outfielder Jackson Chourio (.263, 4 HR, 16 RBI, 7 2B, 2 3B, 11 BB, 14 R, 2 SB, .495 SLG) and starting pitcher Tobias Myers (3-1, 3.03 ERA, 6 G, 5 GS, 29.2 IP, 32 H, 8 BB, 33 SO) of the Milwaukee Brewers; All-Star starting pitcher Shota Imanaga (4-0, 1.67 ERA, 4 GS, 27.0 IP, 18 H, 5 BB, 26 SO) of the Chicago Cubs; infielder Otto Lopez (.344,
3 HR, 14 RBI, 8 2B, 6 BB, 15 R, 4 SB, .521 SLG) of the Miami Marlins; shortstop Luisangel Acuña (.308, 3 HR, 6 RBI, 2 2B, 1 3B, 1 BB, 6 R, .641 SLG) of the New York Mets; starting pitcher Rhett Lowder (2-1, 1.01 ERA, 5 GS, 26.2 IP, 23 H, 10 BB, 16 SO) of the Cincinnati Reds; and catcher Hunter Goodman (.226, 5 HR, 12 RBI, 2 2B, 2 BB, 7 R, .547 SLG) of the Colorado Rockies.

Others receiving votes for AL Rookie of the Month included starting pitcher Cade Povich (2-2, 2.60 ERA, 5 GS, 27.2 IP, 16 H, 8 BB, 32 SO) and outfielder Colton Cowser (.232, 4 HR, 9 RBI, 3 2B, 1 3B, 10 BB, 13 R, 1 SB) of the Baltimore Orioles; and starting pitcher Joey Cantillo (2-1, 2.25 ERA, 4 GS, 20.0 IP, 14 H, 6 BB, 29 SO) of the Cleveland Guardians.