One year ago today, Paul Skenes was 12 days removed from winning the College World Series with LSU. Now, he’s officially a big-league All-Star.
With Major League Baseball's official announcement Sunday afternoon of the pitchers and reserves for the 2024 All-Star Game, Skenes and Bryan Reynolds will represent the Pirates next week in Arlington, Texas.
One way you know Skenes is deserving of this trip to the Midsummer Classic is how he's approaching the honor.
"(I'm going to) try to meet as many people as possible and pick their brains," Skenes told reporters at PNC Park following Sunday's 3-2 loss to the Mets. "The concentration of talent and knowledge at the All-Star Game is unlike anything that I'm never going to experience in my life. Just wanna experience that and learn as much as possible."
The hype for Skenes has been sky high since the Pirates selected him first overall in the 2023 MLB Draft. But all Skenes has done since that day is impress at every stop on the way to his MLB debut on May 11. And, with a 5-0 record, 2.12 ERA, 1.01 WHIP and 78 strikeouts in 59 1/3 innings over just 10 big-league starts, Skenes has lived up to every bit of the hype thus far.
What’s remarkable about Skenes being named an All-Star is he doesn’t even qualify for rate-based stats on leaderboards because he doesn’t meet the requirement of one inning pitched per team game. But he's defied the odds and earned the right to be an All-Star.
"I haven't thought about it a ton up to this point," Skenes said of his chances to make the All-Star Game. "Obviously starting the year in Triple-A, the odds of going to the Major League All-Star game are pretty slim. So that wasn't one of my goals necessarily or expectations of this season. It’s just a huge honor that I’m able to do it over a short period in the big leagues."
Skenes is going to Texas next week because the 22-year-old phenom has been historically great. In his second Major-League start, Skenes became the first pitcher in Pirates history since 1900 to strikeout the first seven batters of a game. Most recently, he became the first pitcher in MLB history to record seven or more strikeouts within a player’s first 10 career games. And, comparing him to the rest of his peers, Skenes already ranks ninth in the National League with a 2.7 bWAR, an accumulative stat.
Skenes’ 78 strikeouts after his first 10 appearances are the eighth-most in MLB history since 1901. The only seven pitchers with more strikeouts are Kerry Wood (94 in 1998), Herb Score (92 in 1955), Jose DeLeon (85 in 1983), Hideo Nomo (83 in 1995), Dwight Gooden (80 in 1984), Masahiro Tanaka (79 in 2014) and Stephen Strasburg (79 in 2010).
To add to that history, Skenes is now the first player in Major-League history to be selected first overall and make the All-Star team the following season. Skenes is also the first Pirates rookie pitcher ever to be selected to the All-Star Game and fourth Pirates rookie ever along with Frankie Zak in 1944, Jason Kendall in 1996 and Tony Womack in 1997.
"I think he deserves to be an All-Star," Derek Shelton said of Skenes. "Paul has done really good things, and I think people in the game have realized that. It’s a credit to him and it’s a really cool honor that a guy who came up in the middle of May that he has put himself on this platform."
The moment Bryan Reynolds and Paul Skenes found out they were headed to the All-Star Game 🥹 pic.twitter.com/Q0rBWtck2s
— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) July 7, 2024
Reynolds is making his second appearance in the All-Star Game. He first made it in 2021, but has put up back-to-back seasons in which his hitting numbers regressed a bit. But, Reynolds has ridden a hot stretch since the beginning of June to become one of the N.L.'s top-hitting outfielders.
"I think it was one of my goals. An unsaid, unwritten goal," Reynolds said. "Just because if you do that, you’re probably having a good year. You’re probably helping the team."
Despite a cold stretch from late April into the middle of May, Reynolds has been the most consistent and productive hitter on a Pirates team that is in need of any and all offense it can get.
The low point for Reynolds came with an 0-for-5 performance on May 12 that brought his average to a season-low .233. Despite bouncing right back with a 5-for-5 performance the very next day, Reynolds labored through the rest of the month, slashing .231/.235/.339 over the final 15 games of the month.
But once the calendar turned over to June, Reynolds put the struggles behind him and has been one of the more productive hitters in the game ever since. In 32 games played since June 1, Reynolds is slashing .336/.387/.626, an OPS of 1.013, with nine home runs and 24 RBIs. June 1 was also the beginning of a 25-game hitting streak for Reynolds that lasted through June 29.
With 16 home runs this season, Reynolds is also on pace to surpass his career-high of 27. Reynolds also ranks among the best N.L. outfielders, coming into Sunday’s action ranking first with 101 hits, ranking second with 16 home runs and an .836 OPS, and tied for fourth with 54 RBIs.
"The term there ‘constant’ -- he’s been the constant in our lineup," Shelton said of Reynolds. "The one thing I admire most about Bryan is you never know how he did that day. You never know the day before what he did. He’s about as consistent as anybody I’ve ever been around, in terms of his demeanor and how he attacks his at-bats. Let’s not make light of this guy plays harder than or just as hard as anybody in the game every night. I would bet, and I don’t know the actual numbers, that there’s four or five guys that have played in every game this year – and he’s one of them. And I think that’s a badge of honor that he takes very proudly."
Mitch Keller made a strong case for an All-Star nod with a 9-5 record, 3.48 ERA and 1.25 WHIP in 103 1/3 innings over 17 starts. Keller got off to a really slow start this season, as he had a 5.18 ERA through the end of April. Perhaps that hurt his chances.
All-Star festivities begin July 13 at Globe Life Field with the Futures Game, in which Termarr Johnson and Bubba Chandler will represent the Pirates. The first round of the 2024 MLB Draft will take place on the evening of July 14, the Home Run Derby will be on July 15 and the All-Star Game will be played on July 16. I'll be covering all these events over those four days here deep in the heart of Texas.
