Pittsburgh Pirates Rookie Paul Skenes Makes Case to Start All-Star Game

A year ago at this time, the Pittsburgh Pirates were debating the merits of selecting Paul Skenes with the No. 1 overall draft pick. Now, the debate is whether Skenes is the best pitcher in the National League and deserving of the start in next Tuesday’s All-Star Game.

On Thursday against the Milwaukee Brewers, Skenes threw seven innings of no-hit baseball and struck out a career-high 11 batters. It was his eighth straight start with at least seven strikeouts, which is the longest such streak in the 138-year history of the Pirates.

Skenes has thrown at least six no-hit innings while striking out 11 or more batters twice this season, making him just the second pitcher to do so in baseball history. The other was Nolan Ryan in 1973. 

By 1973, Ryan was already a two-time All-Star, a World Series champion, a two-time strikeout leader, and he’d thrown two no-hitters. Skenes has made 11 career starts and is just one year removed from pitching in the College World Series.

Postseason Award Odds

Before the season began, a bet on Skenes to win National League Rookie of the Year was paying +2000. Let’s hope you got your bets in early, because now he is the runaway favorite at -700. Back in March, the two betting favorites in the N.L. were Yoshinobu Yamamoto of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Jung Hoo Lee of the San Francisco Giants.

Yamamoto has missed the last month with a strained rotator cuff, and he is now paying +9000 to win Rookie of the Year. Lee suffered a season-ending shoulder injury back in May and he is off the board.

Jackson Merrill of the San Diego Padres is second on the current odds board, paying +750. The 21-year-old center fielder is the ninth-youngest All-Star in the last 40 years, and in almost every other year he would be the heavy favorite to win ROY. Instead, it is Skenes, who is just 11 months older than Merrill.

In National League Cy Young betting, the favorites are Zack Wheeler of the Philadelphia Phillies, paying +150, and Chris Sale of the Atlanta Braves, who is paying +160. Ranger Suarez of the Phillies is +1000, and Skenes is right behind him at +1100.

Schedule Sets Up for Skenes

Suarez heads into the weekend as the National League leader in ERA, Wheeler is second, and Sale is third. Sale also leads the N.L. with 12 wins, ahead of the 10 each for Suarez and Wheeler.

But Sale is starting for the Braves on Sunday, which knocks him out of the running for a Tuesday All-Star start. Wheeler is also scheduled to start on Sunday, but he left his last start early with back tightness and he could be skipped this weekend. The Phillies also might request that he doesn’t pitch in Arlington next week so he can begin the second half of the season fully healthy.

Suarez pitches on Friday against the Oakland Athletics, which shouldn’t keep him out of consideration for the All-Star Game. But it’s important to note that he only leads the league in ERA because Skenes hasn’t thrown enough innings to qualify. Skenes has an ERA of 1.90, more than a half-run better than Suarez. Skenes also has a lead in strikeouts per inning and strikeouts to walks ratio. 

Skenes is striking out 1.34 batters per inning and his K/BB is 6.8. Suarez is striking out 0.97 batters per inning and his K/BB is 4.56. Skenes also has the better WHIP – 0.92 vs. 1.02.

The statistics favor Skenes, and the level of excitement would also be considerably higher if he gets the nod. If he is selected to start by Arizona Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo, Skenes would be the first rookie pitcher to start the All-Star Game since Hideo Nomo in 1995.

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