BATON ROUGE, La. – Former LSU All-American right-hander Paul Skenes made an historic appearance Tuesday night at Truist Park in Atlanta, becoming the first Major League Baseball pitcher to start the All-Star Game in each of his first two seasons.
Skenes, the Pittsburgh Pirates ace, pitched a perfect first inning for the National League, striking out Gleyber Torres and Riley Greene of the Detroit Tigers before retiring Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees on a ground ball to end the American League first inning.
Skenes was also the starting pitcher in the 2024 All-Star Game for the National League as a rookie. He pitched a scoreless first inning in last season’s Midsummer Classic, allowing no hits with one walk.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Skenes on Tuesday night became the first pitcher and one of only five Major Leaguers ever to start in the All-Star Game in each of his first two big league seasons, joining Hall of Famers Joe DiMaggio (first seven seasons, 1936-42); Rod Carew (first three seasons, 1967-69); and Frank Robinson (first two seasons, 1956-57); and 2025 Hall of Fame Inductee Ichiro Suzuki (first four seasons, 2001-04).
Skenes is the 10th pitcher in MLB history to make consecutive starts for the National League in the All-Star Game. He also became the first pitcher to make consecutive Midsummer Classic starts since 2018, when Washington’s Max Scherzer started for the second straight time for the National League and Boston’s Chris Sale made his third start in a row for the American League.
Skenes last season joined Hideo Nomo (1995), Fernando Valenzuela (1981), Mark Fidrych (1976) and Dave Stenhouse (1962) as the only rookie pitchers to start an All-Star Game.
Skenes, the 2024 National League Rookie of the Year, has been dominant again in 2025 for the Pirates, recording a 2.01 ERA in 121.0 innings with 131 strikeouts. He finished with an 11-3 record in 2024, logging a 1.96 ERA with 170 strikeouts in 133.0 innings.
Skenes, a Lake Forest, Calif., native, was the No. 1 overall selection by Pittsburgh in the 2023 MLB Draft. He led LSU to the 2023 College World Series title and was presented with the Dick Howser Trophy as the best player in NCAA Division I.
Also the 2023 D1 Baseball National Player of the Year and the Southeastern Conference Pitcher of the Year, Skenes compiled a 13-2 record and a 1.69 ERA in 122.2 innings for LSU with 20 walks and an SEC-record 209 strikeouts. He finished No. 1 in the nation in strikeouts (209), strikeouts per nine innings (15.33) and WHIP (0.75).
He finished No. 2 in the nation in ERA (1.69), No. 3 in strikeout-to-walk ratio (10.45), and No. 5 in hits allowed per nine innings (5.28). He was voted the Most Outstanding Player of the 2023 College World Series, as he was 1-0 in two starts with a 1.15 ERA in 15.2 innings, allowing two runs on seven hits with two walks and 21 strikeouts.
