Pirates' Paul Skenes Named NL Starting Pitcher for 2024 MLB All-Star Game

Pittsburgh Pirates ace Paul Skenes will start the 2024 All-Star Game for the National League, MLB announced on Friday.

According to MLB Network, Skenes will become the fifth rookie pitcher to start an All-Star Game.

Arizona Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo, who will manage the NL team in the All-Star Game next week, hinted strongly Thursday night that Skenes would get the nod.

When asked about potential starters for the game, Lovullo specifically mentioned Skenes because he's been "an unbelievable addition" and "created a lot of interest in Major League Baseball" since being called up by the Pittsburgh Pirates on May 9.

If there was an argument against Skenes to start the game, it was based on the number of innings he has pitched in the big leagues relative to the other options.

Skenes has thrown only 66.1 innings in 11 starts. Chris Sale, Zack Wheeler, Christopher Sánchez and Hunter Greene were among the other candidates who could've started, and they have all thrown more than 100 innings so far this season.

On a per-start basis, though, Skenes has been the most consistently dominant pitcher in the NL. The 22-year-old had the best start of his young career on Thursday when he threw seven no-hit innings with 11 strikeouts and one walk against the Milwaukee Brewers.

Thursday was the sixth consecutive start in which Skenes has allowed two or fewer runs with seven or more strikeouts. He's yet to allow more than three runs in any of his starts.

Skenes' 12.1 strikeouts per nine innings ranks first in the NL among all players with at least 60 innings pitched. His 1.90 ERA is second only to Reynaldo López of the Atlanta Braves (1.71).

The All-Star Game is a marketing event intended to sell the biggest stars in the sport to casual audiences who may not be inclined to watch games every day like a hardcore fan, which also likely factored into the decision to start Skenes.

Outside of Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani, it can be argued that Skenes has been the biggest star—or at least the most-talked-about star—in MLB since he debuted.

Depending on how AL manager Bruce Bochy puts together his starting lineup, the idea of having Skenes potentially face Judge, Gunnar Henderson and Juan Soto in the first inning of the All-Star Game is something everyone in the sport should want to see.