SI:AM | Paul Skenes Is the Reason You Should Watch the All-Star Game

It’s a rare opportunity to see him against the best the opposite league has to offer.

Skenes (center) will get his first true national stage in Tuesday’s All-Star Game. / Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports

Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. I thought the rule changes made the Home Run Derby a much better viewing experience.

In today’s SI:AM:

🔥 Facing Paul Skenes
🥇 Scott Hanson’s “Gold Zone”
⛳ British Open preview

This is going to be good

Every baseball fan should be rooting for Steven Kwan to reach base safely in the bottom of the first inning of Tuesday night’s MLB All-Star Game in Texas.

Interleague play has removed some of the mystique from the All-Star Game. No longer is the Midsummer Classic the sole opportunity we get to see the AL and NL’s best share the field. But this year’s game is an exception. Paul Skenes, the Pittsburgh Pirates’ star rookie, will start the game for the NL. And with any luck, we’ll get to see him face three of the best hitters in the game.

No disrespect to Kwan, who is leading the majors with a .354 batting average, but the trio of batters people really want to see Skenes face is Gunnar Henderson, Juan Soto and Aaron Judge, who are due up after Kwan leads off for the AL. Those three players all rank in the top four in the AL in the following categories: offensive WAR, OPS, home runs, runs scored and total bases. Who doesn’t want to see the league’s most talked-about rookie stare down three power hitters like that, back-to-back-to-back?

None of the players in the AL starting lineup have faced Skenes before. Actually, not that many players in the majors have faced him yet. Skenes has made just 11 starts this season. No player in MLB history has appeared in fewer games before making their first All-Star appearance than Skenes has. He’s also just the fifth pitcher to start the All-Star Game as a rookie, joining Dave Stenhouse (1962), Mark Fidrych (’76), Fernando Valenzuela (’81) and Hideo Nomo (’95). But Skenes has been so excellent in those few appearances that he was an uncontroversial pick to start the game. He has a 1.90 ERA and 0.920 WHIP in those 11 starts, with 89 strikeouts and just 13 walks in 66 ⅓ innings. His final start before the break was what really solidified him as the right guy to start for the NL, when he pitched seven innings with 11 strikeouts and did not allow a hit.

The Pirates took Skenes with the No. 1 pick in last year’s draft after he posted a 1.69 ERA in 19 starts for the LSU Tigers. He was probably ready to jump straight to the big leagues but Pittsburgh brought him along slowly, having him make five starts in the minors after the draft and seven tune-up appearances at Triple A this year before his debut on May 11.

Even big league hitters have struggled mightily to figure out Skenes now that he’s made the jump to MLB. The biggest reason is his “splinker”—a kind of Frankenstein pitch that moves like a splitter but has the velocity of a sinker. He throws the pitch 31.4% of the time and opponents have a combined .157 batting average against it. As if that wasn’t difficult enough for hitters, Skenes also has a four-seam fastball that averages 99.1 mph, the fastest of any starter in the majors this season.

Although he’s only spent two months in the majors, Skenes already looks like he’s the next big thing. He’ll have plenty of chances in the future to face off against the best hitters in the game (in fact, the Pirates’ first series after the All-Star break is against the MLB-leading Philadelphia Phillies), but Tuesday’s All-Star game is a unique opportunity to face the opposite league’s best hitters one after another. It’s tough to say it would be disappointing if Skenes was so dominant in the first inning that he retired the side in order and was pulled from the game before getting a chance to face Judge, but isn’t that the matchup everyone wants to see? The game’s most established power hitter against a rising power pitcher?

Even if it doesn’t come to pass on Tuesday in Arlington, an even bigger Skenes vs. Judge matchup could be looming. The Pirates’ final series of the season is against Judge and the New York Yankees in the Bronx. And those games actually count.

DeChambeau eyes his third major victory this week. / Jack Gruber-USA TODAY Sports

The best of Sports Illustrated

• Tom Verducci talked to a bunch of All-Stars about what it’s like to hit against Paul Skenes.

• Mitch Goldich spoke with Scott Hanson about his unique job during the upcoming Olympics.

• Here is Bob Harig’s preview of the British Open, where Bryson DeChambeau will try to accomplish something no player has since Tiger Woods.

• The British Open begins on Thursday at Royal Troon. Here are the first-round tee times.

• Elly De La Cruz had a cool moment with Derek Jeter at Monday’s All-Star media day.

• Fresno State football coach Jeff Tedford has resigned due to health concerns.

• Here is every NBA player who will be representing their country at the Olympics.

The top five…

… things I saw yesterday:

5. Alec Bohm’s reaction to the terrible national anthem before the Home Run Derby.
4. A nice defensive play by Bronny James. (He still hasn’t made a three-pointer.)
3. The last swing of the Derby. Bobby Witt Jr. needed a homer to tie Teoscar Hernández and hit it off the wall.
2. Donovan Clingan’s thunderous dunk.
1. Gunnar Henderson’s Scooby Doo bat.