Pirates’ Rookie Paul Skenes Will Start For National League in 2024 All-Star Game
What a year it’s been for Pittsburgh Pirates rookie phenom Paul Skenes.
The 22-year-old righty won the Men’s College World Series with LSU and was named the Most Outstanding Player of the MCWS last season. Then, he went first overall to the Pirates last July and made his MLB debut on May 11th.
Now, just two months into his professional career, Skenes is headed to his first career All-Star Game in Arlington, Texas, next week. Not only will he face some of the best hitters the sport has to offer, but he’ll do so in the first inning as the National League team’s starting pitcher.
Skenes becomes the first rookie to be named a starting pitcher of an All-Star Game since Hideo Nomo in 1995. Others to accomplish that feat include Dave Stenhouse, Mark Fidrych and Fernando Valenzuela.
According to MLB researcher Sarah Langs, he’ll also become the sixth-youngest pitcher to start an All-Star Game, behind Vida Blue, Mark Fidrych, Dwight Gooden, Fernando Valenzuela and Jerry Walker.
The announcement comes just a day after the 6-foot-6 flamethrower completed seven no-hit innings against the Milwaukee Brewers, tying his career-high of 11 punchouts. He’s tossed multiple no-hit bids of at least six innings over his first 11 career big-league starts.
Arizona Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo, named NL All-Star skipper after his club advanced to last fall’s World Series, revealed his decision Friday morning after calling into Skenes’ interview on the Dan Patrick Show.
Skenes opened this season at Triple-A, where he made quick work of his competition, pitching to a ridiculous 0.99 ERA and 1.57 FIP with 45 strikeouts and only eight walks across 27.1 innings in seven starts.
Since arriving in the big leagues, he leads the NL in ERA (1.90) and ranks second to only Chicago’s Garrett Crochet (1.84) for first in the majors among 77 qualified hurlers during that span. His 89 strikeouts lead the sport, with his 34.9% strikeout rate second behind Crochet’s 35.2% clip.
The Fullerton, CA native is 6-0 in 11 starts, wielding a 2.58 FIP and .201 OPP AVG across 66.1 innings, worth 2.0 fWAR – tied for fourth in the majors, trailing only Cristopher Sánchez (2.2), Chris Sale (2.3) and Crochet (2.7).
MLB has yet to announce who’ll start for the American League during Tuesday’s All-Star Game. However, Detroit’s Tarik Skubal – who ranks second in ERA (2.37), FIP (2.54) and fWAR (3.4) and third in strikeouts (132) among qualified AL starters this season – is likely amongst the leading candidates.
Heading into the final weekend before the Midsummer Classic, Skenes and teammate Mitch Keller are at the forefront of a Pirates rotation – that’s currently without fellow rookie star Jared Jones – leading a team that enters Friday’s slate just 2.5 games out of the final NL wild-card seed.
If Pittsburgh were to sneak in, reaching the postseason for the first time since 2015, the club’s starting trio would present a fearsome matchup against any contender in a short series.
-Thomas Hall
Twitter: @Hall_Thomas_
Photo: Minda Haas Kuhlmaan. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.