Paul Skenes, Corbin Burnes named 2024 MLB All-Star Game starters

ARLINGTON — It will be a matchup of youthful vibrance vs. steadfast experience on the mound when the 2024 MLB All-Star Game presented by Mastercard gets underway on Tuesday night at Globe Life Field (8 p.m. ET, FOX).

For the National League, a 22-year-old phenom who has made history over the first 11 starts of his Major League career will take the hill just a year after being selected as the No. 1 overall pick in the Draft. For the American League, a seven-year Major League veteran with a Cy Young Award and four All-Star selections to his name will take the ball.

Paul Skenes and Corbin Burnes will be the starting pitchers for the 94th Midsummer Classic, which means hitters will face much more heat than the triple-digit temperatures outside the air-conditioned venue.

Skenes, the Pirates’ flamethrowing right-hander, has captured the collective imagination of the baseball world with a historic start to his Major League career. And he will become the first rookie to start the All-Star Game since Hideo Nomo, who did so right here in Arlington back in 1995.

“It’s cool to even be in this position, to be at the All-Star Game in the first place,” Skenes said on Monday. “Just super grateful to be given the opportunity to start it. … I didn’t necessarily think I would be here.”

Opposite Skenes will be Burnes, who owns a 2.43 ERA over 19 starts during his first season with the Orioles after six with the Brewers. The 2021 NL Cy Young Award winner has been as reliable as they come since becoming a full-time starter for Milwaukee that year. He has struck out more than 200 batters every season since then, and at the All-Star break this year, he’s got 110 strikeouts over 118 2/3 innings.

For AL manager Bruce Bochy of the defending World Series champion Rangers, the choice to go with Burnes — who wasn’t at Media Day on Monday because his wife recently gave birth to twins — involved multiple factors, including his entire body of work.

“First of all, I think you have to look at his résumé, what he’s done in baseball,” Bochy said. “He’s had an incredible career. This is his fourth consecutive All-Star Game. What he’s done this year in Baltimore, you know, they’re leading their division. He’s a big reason for that.

“In my mind, it’s just his time. It’s his time to start an All-Star Game.”

For the National League squad, manager Torey Lovullo of the defending NL champion D-backs had several worthy candidates to start Tuesday’s All-Star Game, but his decision was made easier by a confluence of circumstances that made Skenes the choice — many other options were either hurt or were slated to pitch this past weekend, and Skenes finished the first half of the season with a historic flourish.

Facing the Brewers in Milwaukee last Thursday, Skenes threw seven no-hit innings, walking one and striking out 11 in a 1-0 Pirates victory. It was the second time this season that Skenes had thrown six or more no-hit innings while striking out 11 batters.

By accomplishing that feat, Skenes joined the legendary Nolan Ryan — of whom a statue stands outside the ballpark in which Skenes will take the mound on Tuesday — as the only pitchers in AL/NL history (since at least 1901) to have multiple outings of six or more hitless innings while striking out 11 or more batters in the same season. Ryan did it while pitching for the Angels in 1973.

“When I had a chance to make this decision, he was the early target,” Lovullo said. “I wanted to just make sure that the world got a chance to see him. … I want to give him every opportunity to go out on this stage and show what he can do.”

Overall this season, Skenes has a 1.90 ERA, 0.92 WHIP and 89 strikeouts to just 13 walks over 11 starts (66 1/3 innings pitched). His 89 strikeouts are the fifth most in AL/NL history through a pitcher’s first 11 career appearances dating back at least to 1901.

With a fastball that has been clocked at 100 mph or greater 75 times over those 11 starts, and which has touched 101.9 mph, the 6-foot-6, 235-pound Skenes has become appointment viewing. He will certainly be that on Tuesday night.

The AL lineup Skenes will face is stacked, and given that Lovullo said Skenes will likely only pitch the first inning, there are at least three hitters the rookie phenom will face for sure: Steven Kwan, Gunnar Henderson and Juan Soto.

“Looking at the lineup, yeah, there are no breaks there,” Skenes said. “There’s no free outs. I mean, it is the All-Star Game. But yeah, looking forward to attacking them each head-on. It’s going to be cool.”

Henderson, for one, is excited to finally see what it looks like to face Skenes.

“Obviously, it’s really electric stuff,” Henderson said. “He’s been unreal since he’s been called up. Just being able to see how it actually feels in the box — I mean, you can look at it and feel like you’re ready for it, but until you’re in the box, you never know.”

Burnes, meanwhile, has once again firmly planted himself in the middle of the Cy Young Award conversation, this time in the AL, thanks to a dominant first half that was a huge boost to an Orioles club whose starting rotation has been hit hard by injuries.

The O’s acquired Burnes in a February trade with the Brewers. He has turned in a quality start in 15 of his 19 outings — 10 of those quality starts came consecutively from April 26-June 16, a career-best streak.

When he takes the mound for the AL, Burnes will become the first Baltimore pitcher to start an All-Star Game since Steve Stone in 1980. Hall of Famer Jim Palmer (’70, ’72, ’77 and ’78) and Milt Pappas (’65) also started Midsummer Classics while representing the Orioles.

Skenes and Burnes. An electric, overpowering young arm vs. one of the game’s best and most consistent starting pitchers of the past several years. As the eyes of the entire baseball world turn to the Lone Star State, this matchup to start the All-Star Game promises to be epic.