MLB NOTES — After Paul Skenes’ final start before the MLB All-Star Game on Thursday, I tweeted in jest that I would riot if he weren’t named the starter for the National League team. Thankfully, I can proceed in peace.
Paul Skenes Named National League All-Star Starter
Skenes made the decision a no-brainer yesterday after he threw seven innings of no-hit baseball with 11 strikeouts and one walk against the Milwaukee Brewers. That was Skenes’ second start in which he threw six or more innings of no-hit ball before being pulled by the Pirates due to his rising pitch count.
Skenes joined Nolan Ryan as the only pitcher⛄s in major league history to have multiple outings of 11 or more strikeouts and zero hits allowed in a season. Ryan accomplished the feat in 1973, his sixth major league season. Skenes needed only 11 starts to achieve it.
The only counter to Skenes being the starter for the NL All-Star team next week has been his “small sample size,” but as I wrote earlier this week, when you’re 6-0 with a 1.90 ERA, a sub-one WHIP and 89 strikeouts in those 11 starts, that argument becomes a moot point. Skenes will become the fifth rookie to start in an All-Star Game and have the fewest starts by any pitcher ever to start a mid-summer classic.
The MLB All-Star Game lacks entertainment these days, but tell me you can’t get excited about seeing Skenes take on Gunnar Henderson, Juan Soto, and Aaron Judge in the bottom of the first inning next week, and I’ll show you a liar.
Baseball should be fun. This will be fun. That’s simple math, my friends.
We’re Just Two Days from the MLB Draft
We’re two days from the MLB Draft, and MLB.com’s prospecting guru Jim Callis has released his final mock draft. Callis has the Cleveland Guardians taking Oregon State second baseman Travis Bazzanna at No. 1 overall, with their in-state rivals, the Reds, taking Georgia slugger Charlie Condon right behind them.
But Callis’ mock comes with a caveat: Bazzana to Cleveland is no slam dunk. The Guardians have been all over the place during the lead-up to the draft, so Callis has Bazzanna as the slight favorite to be selected by Cleveland.
“Since we’ve gotten in the habit of assigning percentages to the possible outcomes with this pick, I’ll update mine: , Condon 33 percent, Wetherholt 32 percent, the field 1 percent. As mentioned above, those are just educated guesses.”
You can check out here:
Phillies Make a Statement with a Sweep of the Dodgers
The Philadelphia Phillies keep winning. They’ve dealt with a barrage of injuries to key players this season, and yet, they check in this morning at 61-32, the best record in the National League by six and a half games over the Dodgers, whom they swept this week in Philly.
Can there be 💝a statement win in July? If you ask the Phillies, the answer is yes.
“Coming off the Braves series and straight into the Dodgers, it’s a big test for us to see where we stand right now,” . “I think we held our own.ꦅ Yeah, I’d be lying 🐎if I said we didn’t wake up a little differently for games like this. This is why we play the game. Dodgers-Phillies. It’s what it’s all about.”
Dave Roberts seemed to believe this week’s series was a statement but more about the gap between his Dodgers and the Phillies.
“They’re clearly a better team than we are right now,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “We really didn’t do much well this series. Starting pitching, defense, we had a mistake tonight on the bases. Situational hitting, getting hits — all that kind of stuff, we were outplayed. It’s certainly … I know where we’re at right now.”
As we head into the All-Star break next week, the Phillies are undoubtedly the top dog in the National League heading into the second half of the season. That’s a statement if there ever was one.
Bo Bichette and Tim Anderson Crowned “Least Valuable Players” in Midseason Awards
With the season half in the books, The Athletic’s Jayson Stark dropped his today. I won’t spoil who his MVPs are to this point in the season, but we can share a laugh with his “LVPs” (Least Valuable Players): Bo Bichette in the American League and Tim Anderson in the National League.
Bo Bichette has simply forgotten how to hit, sporting a .222/.275/.321 slash line, and Tim Anderson, a one-time batting champion, has forgotten how to hit so much that he’s currently unemployed. I think Stark nailed those picks.
Here are the rest:
