Just eight weeks after making his debut, Paul Skenes of the Pittsburgh Pirates was selected to the All-Star Game on Sunday. The Philadelphia Phillies, who are now dominating the major leagues, received a record-high seven picks.
At the 2018 amateur draft, which took place two days before the All-Star Game in Seattle, the Pirates chose 22-year-old Skenes as their first pick. After making his major league debut on May 11, he has gone 5-0 with a 2.12 ERA, 78 strikeouts, and 59 1/3 innings of work. At least seventy-four of his pitches have reached 100 miles per hour.
Skenes might start for the National League in what would be his last game before the All-Star break, which would be sometime in the middle of the week.
“It would be awesome. “No needs,” he stated. “That would be awesome, but I don’t know who gets to make those kinds of decisions.”
The only rookies selected to the All-Star game on July 16 in Arlington, Texas were Chicago Cubs pitcher Shota Imanaga, San Diego outfielder Jackson Merrill, and Skenes.
Along with three main Phillies position players—first baseman Bryce Harper, shortstop Trea Turner, and third baseman Alec Bohm—the Phillies selected pitchers Zack Wheeler, Ranger Suárez, Jeff Hoffman, and Matt Strahm.
For the first time, Philadelphia boasts seven All-Stars; however, Harper’s availability is contingent upon his comeback from a hamstring strain that has kept him out since June 27. Next weekend, Wheeler will be pitching for the Phillies, thus the team has informed MLB that he will not be available for the All-Star Game.
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With the addition of starting designated hitter Shohei Ohtani to the National League roster, the Los Angeles Dodgers now have six All-Stars: pitcher Tyler Glasnow, catcher Will Smith, first baseman Freddie Freeman, outfielder Teoscar Hernández, and injured shortstop Mookie Betts.
After adding designated hitter David Fry, first baseman Josh Naylor, and reliever Emmanuel Clase to the starting lineup that also included third baseman José Ramírez and outfielder Steven Kwan, Cleveland surpassed all other AL teams with five. San Diego tallied five as well.
Atlanta Braves pitcher Chris Sale was selected to the All-Star team for the eighth time. The 36-year-old left-hander has not been selected since 2012–18 when he had seven consecutive selections. Since Albert Pujols made his eleventh All-Star appearance in his last season of 2022—his first since 2015—the longest such gap has been for an All-Star.
“I must say, it is quite fulfilling. For course, I’m grateful,” Sale said after the Braves acquired him in December from the Boston Red Sox. “They were brave to take a chance, and I feel good about helping them out.”
Kirby Yates, a closer from Texas, will be joined by Marcus Semien, a second baseman for the host Rangers and a 37-year-old, as the oldest All-Stars.
Out of the 67 players on the roster this year, Salvador Perez of Kansas City tied with Jose Altuve of Houston for most selections with nine.
Among the 32 first-timers selected, Merrill, who is 21 years old, is the youngest All-Star.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Skenes is now on pace to have the fewest games played by an All-Star player with eleven, and he is still set to make one more start for Pittsburgh. Notable players from each of these years had 13 RBIs: Mark Fidrych of Detroit in 1976, Hideo Nomo of the Dodgers in 1995, and Dontrelle Willis of Florida in 2003. (Don Schwall of Boston had eleven when the first All-Star Game was in 1961, but he didn’t play. Three weeks later, in the second All-Star Game of the same year, he pitched three innings and had fifteen.)
The fan-voted starting outfielder for San Diego, Fernando Tatis Jr., will sit out the game due to a stress response in his right thigh. Players elected Betts to his ninth consecutive All-Star game, but he hasn’t played since June 16 when he broke his left hand.
After finishing second on the player ballot, Elly De La Cruz, a 22-year-old speedster from Cincinnati, was allowed to replace Betts. Major League Baseball selected Skenes and San Francisco outfielder Heliot Ramos to succeed Tatis and Wheeler, respectively.
Players, managers, and coaches from the American League voted Corbin Burnes of the Baltimore Orioles, Garrett Crochet of the Chicago White Sox, Tanner Houck of the Boston Red Sox, Seth Lugo of the Kansas City Royals, Tarik Skubal of the Detroit Tigers, and Clase, Yates, and Mason Miller of Oakland to the AL staff.
The following AL reserve players were selected by the players: Fry, Naylor, Perez, Semien; Rafael Devers, shortstop for the Boston Red Sox; Jarren Duran, outfielder for the Boston Red Sox; Riley Greene, pitcher for Detroit; and Kyle Tucker, outfielder for Houston.
MLB selected four players from teams that were not already represented in the AL: Logan Gilbert and pitcher Tyler Anderson of the Seattle Mariners, Carlos Correa of the Minnesota Twins, and Isaac Paredes of the Tampa Bay Rays. Cole Ragans of Kansas City and Clay Holmes of the New York Yankees were also chosen as pitchers.
San Diego’s Hoffman, Strahm, and Robert Suarez won the bullpen balloting, while Glasnow, Sale, Ranger Suárez, and Wheeler were elected to the National League staff alongside Atlanta’s fellow starter Reynaldo López.
The following National League reserves were selected by the players: Betts, Freeman, Hernández, Merrill, Smith, San Diego second baseman Luis Arraez, Colorado third baseman Ryan McMahon, Pittsburgh outfielder Bryan Reynolds, and Atlanta designated hitter Marcell Ozuna.
Pitchers Ryan Helsley of St. Louis, Imanaga, and Tanner Scott of Miami and San Francisco were all selected by MLB for the National League. Shortstop CJ Abrams of Washington and first baseman Pete Alonso of the New York Mets, who was also selected by MLB last year, were the other two players from teams that did not have All-Stars.
The Orioles’ outfielder Anthony Santander, second baseman Jordan Westburg (who placed second in the final round of fan vote), and first baseman Ryan Mountcastle are among the notable players who were omitted.
Even though he finished second in the final round of fan voting, San Diego third baseman Manny Machado, Philadelphia catcher J.T. Realmuto, and Denver designated hitter Kyle Schwarber were not included. Schwarber is dealing with a groin problem.
De La Cruz had his own unique way of getting ready for the All-Star trip.
“I’m studying Japanese so I can communicate with Ohtani,” he exclaimed via his interpreter.
