Paul Skenes is an All-Star again. The Paul Skenes-led Pittsburgh Pirates saw their ace named to the National League roster for the third year in a row, placing him in rare company among pitchers to earn the honor in each of his first three big-league seasons.
The right-hander did not throw a pitch in Tuesday’s All-Star Game, a 4-0 American League win. Skenes had started the Pirates’ first-half finale on Sunday against the Milwaukee Brewers, which ruled him out two days later. As Pittsburgh’s only selection, his rest meant the Pirates went without a single player in the box score of the Midsummer Classic.
Per MLB.com, Skenes became the fourth pitcher in major league history to make the All-Star team in each of his first three seasons, joining Tom Seaver, Dwight Gooden and Yu Darvish. For a franchise that has spent recent summers selling at the deadline rather than starring at the break, that is the kind of company that lingers.
The selection was earned on the mound. Skenes took an 8-8 record and a 3.57 ERA into the break, with 130 strikeouts against a 1.02 WHIP over 108.1 innings in 20 starts. The won-lost mark says more about Pittsburgh’s offense than about his pitching; the strikeout-to-baserunner ratio is the reason he was on the National League staff at all.
There is a case that the timing did Pittsburgh a favor. Skenes has already logged 108.1 innings, and a rebuilding club has every reason to protect the best arm it has developed in a generation. Rest at the break, rather than an exhibition inning far from home, is the careful path. The second half brings the Aug. 3 trade deadline, where the Pirates are again expected to field calls around their ace rather than shop alongside him.
For fantasy managers, the break is a moment to hold rather than move him. Skenes’ 8-8 record undersells a pitcher missing bats better than an inning at a time with elite ratios, and the win total should climb if Pittsburgh’s lineup or bullpen cooperates even modestly after the break. He stays a set-and-forget ace, and the extra rest only sharpens his outlook for a heavy second-half workload.
