Pittsburgh Pirates ace Paul Skenes was named to the All-Star Game for the second time in his young career, which gave him an opportunity to be teammates with Clayton Kershaw on the National League team.
Kershaw was among five Los Angeles Dodgers who made this year’s All-Star Game, with his selection coming as a “Legend Pick” by MLB commissioner Rob Manfred.
It was his 11th career All-Star pick and one Kershaw eventually welcomed after initially having some hesitation over the manner in which he was chosen to take part in the festivities in Atlanta.
That was to the delight of Skenes, who was looking forward to picking Kershaw’s brain on a variety of topics as the young right-hander hopes to follow a similar career path to that of the future Hall of Famer.
Skenes is having an outstanding start to his Major League career, with back-to-back All-Star starts and a career 1.98 ERA through 254 innings pitched.
“I kept my distance a little bit. Our lockers were next to each other,” Skenes said. “I didn’t get any time, really, to talk to him [Monday]. But talked to him a little bit today. He’s such a class act.
“It’s just so impressive, obviously, what he’s done in the game. The human that he is. We were in the waiting room before the red carpet today.
“He had all his kids. Watching him be a dad, too, it was just cool. It was a cool experience for me.”
Besides getting a chance to be around Kershaw, Skenes enjoyed meeting other new faces present at this year’s Midsummer Classic as well. And watching Pirates teammate Oneil Cruz compete in the Home Run Derby was also a highlight.
“I mean, Cruzy in the Home Run Derby. That didn’t happen last year,” Skenes said. “That was obviously a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for him, but for me to be able to watch as his teammate, that was pretty cool.
“And then a few different faces from last year. Obviously, Kershaw. Matthew Boyd, guys like that, Yamamoto. They were in there, and being able to interact with them was pretty cool.”
Skenes collected two strikeouts while pitching a scoreless first inning. Kershaw then was the first pitcher out of the bullpen for the NL, and he retired both batters faced before exiting to a standing ovation.
Clayton Kershaw praises Paul Skenes
Kershaw’s All-Star selection gave him the opportunity to see the new wave of MLB’s premier starting pitchers. He came away with a great impression of not only Skenes, but also Tarik Skubal of the Detroit Tigers.
“As a pitcher, he’s incredible,” Kershaw said of Skenes. “A bulldog out there, so competitive, just coming after guys, not fazed by anything. I said it about Skubal as well. Both of those guys have been super impressive to watch.
“To get to talk to Paul this week has been fun. He’s got such a regimented routine you can tell, you know, just even the two days we were here.
“And you don’t realize how big he is too. Like if there’s ever a guy that can throw that hard and stay healthy and good for a long time, like I would bet on him. It’s super impressive.
“And so I didn’t have a whole lot to tell him. We talked a little bit about pitch grips and different things like that. But you can tell he wants to be good. He wants to be great. He wants to be good for a long time. So you’ve got to respect that. It’s pretty cool.”
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