Paul Skenes of the Pittsburgh Pirates has been making quite a name for himself with a dominant start to his MLB career following reaching the pinnacle of success in the college ranks. With his performances as well as his relationship with TikTok star Livvy Dune of LSU gymnastics being well known, Skenes has become one of the faces of the league. Now, he’s been awarded with another major honor in his young career as he has been named the starter for the National League in this year’s MLB All-Star Game.

To put into perspective just how impressive Skenes has been, one can simply look at the numbers and see how they are all eye-popping. In 11 games played, Skenes has only allowed 14 earned runs, while racking up a 6-0 win/loss record, a .92 WHIP, and a 1.90 ERA. This level of dominance is rare in any player but particularly in a 22-year-old rookie.

Adding to the list of dominant performances, on Thursday, Skenes was pulled from a potential no-hitter game after seven innings, a game in which he threw a career-high 11 strikeouts, much to the chagrin of users on X. Pittsburgh’s manager, Derek Shelton, however, stands by his decision telling the media, “It didn’t have anything to do with his pitch count. Everybody makes it about the pitch count, it was about where he was at.”

Skenes joins elite company by being named the starter for the National League, as he is only the fifth-ever rookie pitcher to start the All-Star Game, per the Elias Sports Bureau. Joining alongside names on that list are as follows: Hideo Nomo in 1995, who is a member of the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame, Fernando Valenzuela in 1981, who is a member of the Mexican Professional Baseball Hall of Fame, Mark “The Bird” Fidrych in 1976 and Dave Stenhouse in 1962.

With the MLB All-Star Game coming up on Tuesday, the world will turn to Skenes as he looks to guide the National League All-Star Team to a win while throwing to dominant hitters such as Aaron Judge, Juan Soto, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Adley Rutschman and more. Baseball’s brightest stars will be out for all to see, in what shapes up to be an electrifying match of the best the game has to offer.