Around the Curve | Two Altoona Curve Alums Named MLB All-Stars

CURVE, Pa. – The Midsummer classic is once again upon us, as the games top stars have been recognized with All-Star nominations and the Curve are well represented.

Major League Baseball’s All-Star Game returns to Philadelphia for the first time since 1996, with the National League and American League squaring off on Tuesday night.

While it originally appeared that only one (bus/plane?) ticket to Philadelphia would be needed from Pittsburgh, superstar Pirates’ pitcher Paul Skenes opened a spot for his fellow teammate in Braxton Ashcraft. With Skenes having pitched on Sunday before the break, Ashcraft was added to the NL All-Star roster as a replacement.

Skenes becomes the fifth Curve alum to be selected as a Major League All-Star three or more times in his career. He joins the exclusive list of Jose Bautista (six selections), Gerrit Cole (six), Andrew McCutchen (five), and Jason Schmidt (three) (Schmidt had Major League experience before playing for Altoona in 2001, but went on to earn three All-Star titles later in his career.) Sean Casey also played in three All-Star games before his appearance with Altoona in 2006.

The back-to-back-to-back honors for Skenes places him with Bautista, Cole, and McCutchen as the only four Curve alums to make three consecutive All-Star teams.

The addition of Ashcraft to the National League roster as a replacement for Skenes makes him Altoona’s 25th non-rehab alumni to be named an All-Star. The Curve have also had seven rehab assignments from All-Star players.

The 26-year-old first-time All-Star in Ashcraft logged 128 strikeouts before the break, a top-10 mark in the majors. With he and Skenes both above the 115 mark pre-break, they become the second pair of Pirates teammates to surpass that mark. Cole and Francisco Liriano are the other pair to do so.

Ashcraft spent the back end of 2023 and the beginning of 2024 in Altoona. In his first season with the Curve, the righty started eight games and logged a 1.35 ERA across 20 innings of work. In 2024, Ashcraft earned his call up to Triple-A Indianapolis in June after 11 appearances and 53.2 innings where he struck out 63 batters.

For Skenes, the LSU product made two starts for Altoona in late 2023. His Double-A debut on August 26th, 2023 drew a franchise record crowd of 10,164 fans to Peoples Natural Gas Field.

Despite having his worst of three seasons as a major leaguer, Skenes still turned in a 3.57 ERA in his 20 starts before the break.

It is the fifth time in the last six years that the Curve have sent at least two alums to an All-Star game in a single year. Altoona continues the streak of having at least one alumnus being named a Major League All-Star in every season since 2008. The Curve have had representation in 23 of the last 27 mid-summer classics dating back to 1999.