Paul Skenes becomes 1st Pirates pitcher to be selected to All-Star Game in 1st 2 seasons

Paul Skenes wasn’t “super surprised” to be selected to the All-Star Game for the second consecutive season, even if he became the first Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher to be chosen in each of his first two seasons.

“Pretty cool. I’m looking forward to it,” Skenes said Sunday on the SportsNet Pittsburgh postgame show after striking out 10 without a walk in five innings in a 1-0 loss to the Seattle Mariners. “I didn’t make plans over the All-Star break or anything. I’m not super surprised, but it’s definitely an honor.”

The 23-year-old started for the National League last year on his way to winning NL Rookie of the Year and finishing third in NL Cy Young voting. Skenes told TribLive last week that he would “love to” start again.

“I wouldn’t say no,” Skenes said Sunday. “I think it would be stupid to say no to that. It’s a pretty cool opportunity.”

Skenes was the only Pirates player selected to the Midsummer Classic. Pirates manager Don Kelly shared the news with Skenes in a pregame meeting in the visiting clubhouse at T-Mobile Park in Seattle.

“It means a lot. Paul means a lot, obviously to our team, but also to baseball as a whole,” Kelly said. “I’m just really happy for him and proud of him for what he’s accomplished. Just a tremendous honor for him to be able to go to the All-Star Game.”

The 6-foot-6, 260-pound right-hander has a 4-7 record with a 1.94 ERA and 0.92 WHIP with 125 strikeouts against 30 walks in 116 innings over 19 starts following Sunday’s start at Seattle. He leads the National League in ERA, ranks second in batting average-against (.186), WHIP and innings pitched, fourth in strikeouts and tied for fourth with 12 quality starts.

That Skenes pitched Sunday on four days of rest was by design, Pirates general manager Ben Cherington said on his weekly radio show. The Pirates made adjustments to their starting rotation to set Skenes up to pitch Friday at Minnesota so he can be available to pitch in the Midsummer Classic on July 15 at Truist Park in Atlanta.

“It’s at least possible that he could be considered to start that game,” Cherington said on 93.7 FM. “In anticipation of that, we did make some adjustments to his calendar so that his pitching between now and the All-Star break will allow him to be eligible to pitch.”

Skenes joins Bob Veale (1965, ’66) and Rip Sewell (1943, ’44, ’46) as the only Pirates starting pitchers to be selected to the All-Star Game in at least two straight seasons (there was no All-Star Game in 1945).

The No. 1 overall pick of the 2023 MLB Draft, Skenes was the talk of the game after making his major-league debut in mid-May because of his triple-digit fastball and his “splinker,” a splitter-sinker hybrid pitch.

Cherington said he has been impressed with how Skenes since has evolved as a pitcher, developing his repertoire to include seven pitches.

“When we drafted him and he’s coming through the minor leagues and probably even when he first comes up, there’s, obviously, understandably, a lot of attention on the raw stuff,” Cherington said. “It’s electric stuff. He throws really hard. He’s got the splinker and the breaking balls and the changeup. It’s turned from the fascination with the raw pitches and just the incredible physical things he can do.

“The first thing you see is the continued evolution of a pitcher. And he really is a pitcher. It’s not just stuff. He’s setting hitters up. He’s sequencing pitches. He’s super competitive, obviously, so he’s making pitches when he has to. He’s not just dominating when he has his A-plus game — and you see guys do that when they have their A-plus game — but he’s also finding a way to put up zeroes when he’s got his B-game. That’s really the mark of a great pitcher.”

Skenes told TribLive he hopes to use the All-Star setting as a chance to recruit other major leaguers to join him and New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge to play for Team USA in the World Baseball Classic next spring. Skenes also wants to use the event as an opportunity to pick the brains of baseball’s best players.

“It’s the one time of the year that I’m going to be able to share a clubhouse with all of those guys,” Skenes said. “We’ll have two days together, and I’m going to try to learn as much as possible.”