Slenes picks up the opening starter | News, sports, jobs

Pittsburgh Pirates Start Pitcher Paul Slenes throws on Monday, September 16, 2024, in St. Louis, during the first inning rings of a baseball game against the St. Louis Cardinale. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

Pittsburgh-Rechtshänder Paul Slenes, the reigning National League Rookie of the Year Award, will be the youngest pitcher in 11 years to start a season start if he takes the hill for the pirates next week.

Slenes will be 22 years old on March 27 and 302 when Pittsburgh plays in Miami. José Fernández from the Marlins was 21 years and 243 days old when he opened the 2014 season. In his annual announcement of the starters on the opening day, most of which were already informally confirmed by their clubs in spring training, Major League Baseball also announced on Tuesday that Slenes will be the fastest first overall draft to start an opening day.

Slenes was collapsed by the pirates in 2023. Mike Moore was the first selection of Seattle in 1981 and began the opening day for the Mariners in 1984, and Stephen Strasbourg was the best choice of Washington in 2009 and made his first opening day for the national 2012.

Three locals from Japan received the nod for their openings, most in MLB history. Shota Imanaga from the Chicago Cubs and Yoshinobu Yamamoto from the Los Angeles Dodgers were the starter for the Grand Opener in Tokyo on Tuesday, a 4-1 win for Yamamoto and the Dodgers. Yusei Kikuchi will also begin Chicago White Sox for the Los Angeles Angels on March 27. Seven other players born in Japan previously started seasonal starts: Shoei Ohtani, Yu Darvish, Kenta Maeda, Masahiro Tanaka, Hiroki Kuroda, Daisuke Matsuzaka and Hideo Nomo.

Two teams have explained their opening day starters: Arizona and Cleveland. Torey Lovullo, Manager of Diamondbacks, said he decided between newcomer Corbin Burnes and Zac Gallen for the street game against the Cubs. Guardians Manager Stephen Vogt has not yet committed, but all the signs of Tanner Bibee, who set up on Monday in a Cactus League exhibition game, which looks against Kansas City on March 27.

The 28 other teams will be opened on March 27th. Four of the opening starters will make their debut with a new team: Garrett Crochet with Boston, Clay Holmes with the New York Mets, Luis Severino with athletics and Kikuchi with the angels.

The Others Are Carlos Rodón (Yankees), Freddy Peralta (Milwaukee), Jose Berrios (Toronto), Zach Elfin (Baltimore), Nathan Eovaldi (Texas), Mackenzie Gore (Washington), Zach Wheeler (Philadelphia), Cole Ragans (Kansas City), Framber Valdez (Houston), Hunter Greene (Cincinnati), Logan Webb (San Francisco), Michael King (San Diego), Chris Sale (Atlanta), Sean Burke (Chicago White Sox), Sandy Alcantara (Miami), Sonny Gray (St. Louis), Pablo Lopez (Minnesota), Tarik Skubal (Detroit), Logan Gilbert (Seattle), Shane McClanahan (Tampa Bay) and Kyle Freeland (Colorado).