ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Paul Skenes looked like a summer intern reporting for duty in a light gray suit, white shirt and cream-colored tie, teenage acne on his face and wonder in his voice.
In a ballpark filled with six dozen All-Stars, the 22-year-old Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher with 11 major league appearances was the center of attention.
“Pretty dang cool,” he said.
Skenes is hot, like the 102-degree temperature outside air-conditioned Globe Life Field, and will start Tuesday’s All-Star Game for the National League. He will have the fewest big league games of any player in the showcase’s 91-year history, a new flavor baseball likes to savor. His splinker, a hybrid that sinks like a splitter with the velocity of a sinker, has batters muttering.
“He’s very intriguing to me, and I’m honored to sit next to him,” NL manager Torey Lovullo of Arizona gushed.
If not quite flustered by the flattery, Skenes wasn’t ripe for the…