Passan: On baseball’s biggest stage, Paul Skenes showed he belongs

ARLINGTON, Texas — Thirteen months ago, Paul Skenes was still in college, winning a national championship at LSU. Exactly a year ago, he secured his spot as the first pick in the MLB draft and set his sights — and prodigious talent — on reaching the big leagues as quickly as the Pittsburgh Pirates would allow. They obliged in May, and since then all Skenes has done is pitch better than anyone in Major League Baseball.

At 22 years old, just 11 appearances into his major league career, Skenes started the All-Star Game for the National League on Tuesday night, only the fifth rookie ever to do so. All of it has happened so fast, and as much as his triple-digit fastball and uncommon off-speed stuff, the true thing that has made Skenes so different, an immediate star in a game in need of them: Whereas the whirlwind could have spun someone of lesser stock silly, Skenes found calm and exhibited poise amid the chaos.

On Tuesday night, he threw 16 pitches to a who’s who of American League players: Steven Kwan (.352 batting average), Gunnar Henderson (the game’s best young hitter), Juan Soto (Picasso at the plate) and Aaron Judge (Aaron Judge). He induced a pop-up, a tapper back to him, a pair of swings and misses before a walk, and a soft first-pitch groundout to third. Skenes left the game after a clean inning, but the results were almost secondary to everything that surrounded them. The hype never ceased, and Skenes ran toward it, eager to prove it warranted.

He left the 94th All-Star Game — a 5-3 victory by the American League — with the sense that neither his youth nor his inexperience will be an impediment toward his continued excellence. Surrounded by teammates with dozens of All-Star appearances among them, Skenes was not regarded as someone who simply rode the hoopla to an undeserved nod. The game’s veterans saw substance and humility and someone who can carry the game to a better place.

“The coolest part about it is they’re so accepting and welcomed me with open arms into the clubhouse, and they’re super supportive, watching my start,” Skenes said. “It was just really cool. Definitely feel like I’m one of them.”

From Chris Sale to Tyler Glasnow, Logan Webb to Hunter Greene, the best pitchers in the NL made time for Skenes, answering questions and welcoming him to the fraternity of the game’s finest. The All-Star game is an exhibition, sure, but even more it’s an opportunity for the finest baseball players in the world to showcase the game at its apex: individual matchups between hitter and pitcher, each a master of his craft, giddy to win.

In front of a national audience witnessing his excellence for the first time, Skenes came out on top against some of the best in the game. Even though he finished his one-inning outing without a strikeout — Skenes entered the game with 89 of those over 66.1 innings pitched — he left his peers marveling.

“He was in college a year ago,” said Webb, the NL Cy Young runner-up last season. “So it’s pretty impressive to see him do his work day in, day out. Today I was kind of messing with him. I pretty much just said, ‘Hey, why don’t you sit down for a couple seconds?’ Because he was just going everywhere. But he’s an awesome, awesome guy. And obviously you see his stuff up there. It’s pretty incredible.”

Skenes showcased almost his whole arsenal, throwing mainly his four-seam fastball (99 to 100 mph) and splinker (the hybrid splitter-sinker that’s already regarded as the game’s best pitch) but flipping in a slider and curveball to keep Soto, the ultimate practitioner in the batter’s box, honest. He said he felt like he was on the verge of blacking out when he threw a first-pitch fastball to Kwan, but he settled in and looked like his typical self, leveraging his 6-foot-6, 235-pound frame to fire pitches whose quality are rarely seen in the game.

He even earned praise from Soto, who rarely offers credit to pitchers. On the first pitch of their duel, Skenes unleashed a 94-mph splinker on which Soto whiffed with a swing of rare feebleness. After taking a pair of pitches out of the strike zone — and staring down Skenes with his patented Soto Shuffle — he geared up and hacked over another splinker to even the count.

“It’s a pretty good pitch,” Soto said. “I swung through it twice, so definitely trying to get used to it and put together a good at-bat.”

He did, working a walk and bringing Judge to the plate. Soto promised before the game to get on base so Skenes vs. Judge would be a reality. The most talented pitcher in baseball against the best hitter was happening at Globe Life Field, and while the stakes weren’t as high as the final at-bat of the 2023 World Baseball Classic between Shohei Ohtani and his then-teammate Mike Trout, the buzz it generated throughout the stadium illustrated similar appeal.

Unlike the epic at-bat that ended in a full-count strikeout of Trout to clinch the WBC title for Team Japan, Skenes-Judge began and concluded with a 100-mph fastball grounded to third base for an easy out. Nevertheless, all eyes were on two of the game’s leviathans, and it was the sort of thing that excited even baseball’s most preeminent talents.

“It was a cool vantage point from the bullpen to where he was at,” said Detroit left-hander Tarik Skubal, also one of the game’s top pitchers, who was warming up before throwing the second inning. “The stuff — I mean, he’s an incredible talent. No one’s going to question his talent and what he possesses, and he works his ass off. I think he’s great for the game of baseball.”

Anyone who doubts that is wrong. For all of MLB’s issues building up true stars, those whose transcendence can help bring baseball back to the place of prominence it once held in the national sporting scene, the league is experiencing something of a renaissance. Judge is a bona fide guy, and pairing him and Soto in New York Yankees pinstripes has been a coup for baseball. From his raw stuff (unmatched, at least until Jacob deGrom‘s return) to his incredible performance (a 1.90 ERA in those 11 starts) to his social profile (his girlfriend is LSU gymnast and social-media sensation Livvy Dunne), Skenes fits the bill. And then there is Ohtani, a worldwide superstar, something Skenes didn’t take for granted — particularly after he hammered a three-run home run in the All-Star Game.

“I tried to enjoy the three hours I had on a team with him because that’s probably only going to happen once a year,” said Skenes, who stuck around the stadium to watch the rest of the game after his inning of work. “It was really cool to watch him do that, really cool to watch him go about his business and get to meet him and all that. I don’t know of any hitters I’ve faced that’s better than him in my career. So to be able to share a dugout with him was surreal.”

Beyond his right arm, on display all week were Skenes’ maturity and intelligence. He didn’t take for granted the opportunity. None of it seems to overwhelm him. He is living a charmed life, certainly, and there will be bumps in the road, but he has a keen understanding of his place in the game and his role in a sport he loves.

“It’s cool,” Skenes said, “to bring eyes to the game.”

They were all on him this week, and just as he’s done in a little more than two months in the big leagues, he embraced the stares and the gawks, took photos and signed autographs, played the part the game demands of him. It’s a lot for anyone. It’s exponentially more for someone just beginning his career. Over a frenetic 48 hours, and in one inning on the mound he owns, Paul Skenes showed something.

He’s ready for it. And he belongs.