ATLANTA — White Sox pitcher Shane Smith sat down with a plate of grub, looked around at his American League All-Star teammates and thought: “Is this really happening?”
It might have been more along the lines of, “What the heck am I doing here?”
Smith, 25, came to the Sox via the Rule 5 draft last December. Simply making the Opening Day roster was a significant victory. But going from Rule 5 straight to an All-Star Game? That’s almost unheard of.
“Things change over time, and what you do with that change is what happens,” Smith said. “You’ve just got to keep at it every day. Things happen fast. I’m just trying to enjoy it as it comes. Rule 5 happened, and then spring training, and the next thing you know you’re 18 starts in and you’re in Atlanta.”
Smith hoped to pitch Tuesday but didn’t know AL manager Aaron Boone’s plans.
“I’m ready to throw, whatever that looks like, whether it’s an inning or an out,” he said. “Give me the ball, I’m going to go.”
The right-hander hasn’t been very ready to go lately. His combined ERA for June and July is 7.28, raising his season ERA to 4.26. Still, the Sox needed a representative, as each major-league team does. Smith would have picked fellow starter Adrian Houser to come with him if he could have.
“Being here alone is a little different,” Smith said. “It would’ve been nice to have somebody else.”
Aye, robot — or more likely nay
The automated ball-strike challenge system will be in effect in this All-Star Game, which will have the same challenge rules that were in place for some spring-training games. Each team will get two challenges — initiated by a pitcher, catcher or batter — and will retain a challenge if the appeal is successful.
Don’t expect either starting pitcher, the Tigers’ Tarik Skubal or the Pirates’ Paul Skenes, to tip the ol’ challenge cap.
“I don’t plan on using them,” Skubal said.
And Skenes: “I could kind of care less either way.”
Skenes, by the way, is the first pitcher to start the Midsummer Classic in each of his first two seasons. And he’s only the fifth player ever to do that, joining Joe DiMaggio, Frank Robinson, Rod Carew and Ichiro Suzuki.
Miz kid
Like it or not, Brewers rookie fireballer Jacob Misiorowski — a controversial replacement, having started only five games this season — is here and will get the ball in the fifth, sixth or seventh inning, National League manager Dave Roberts confirmed.
“It’s going to be electric,” Roberts said. “Fans and media, you’re going to love it. . . . If it brings excitement and attention to our game, then I’m all about it.”
Whiz kids
Nationals slugger James Wood is the youngest of the 65 All-Stars at 22. Misiorowski, Skenes, the Cubs’ Pete Crow-Armstrong, the Reds’ Elly De La Cruz and the Athletics’ Jacob Wilson are 23.
Furious Raleigh
Mariners slugger Cal Raleigh, the major-league leader with 38 home runs at the break — outswung the Rays’ Junior Caminero to become the first catcher to win the Home Run Derby on Monday night. Raleigh put 17 balls over the wall in the final round, the longest traveling 464 feet.
Cubs’ and Sox’ draft hauls
The MLB Draft concluded Monday after 20 rounds and 615 picks.
Here are the Cubs’ first 10 picks: Wake Forest pitcher Ethan Conrad (first round, 17th pick); North Carolina outfielder Kane Kepley (2-56); Abilene Christian pitcher Dominick Reid (3-90); Scotts Valley (California) High School pitcher Kaleb Wing (4-121); Alabama outfielder Kade Snell (5-151); Orange Lutheran (California) High School outfielder Josiah Hartshorn (6-181); Florida pitcher Pierce Coppola (7-211); North Carolina pitcher Jake Knapp (8-241); Saint Joseph’s pitcher Colton Book (9-271); and Fresno State catcher Justin Stransky (10-301).
Here are the Sox’ first 10 picks: Corona (California) High School shortstop Billy Carlson (first round, 10th pick); Nazareth High School outfielder Jaden Fauske (2-44); Georgia Tech shortstop Kyle Lodise (3-76); Crespi Carmelite (California) High School catcher Landon Hodge (4-106); Oklahoma State pitcher Gabe Davis (5-137); Florida shortstop Colby Shelton (6-166); Rhode Island third baseman Anthony DePino (7-196); Ohio State pitcher Blaine Wynk (8-226); Coastal Carolina pitcher Riley Eikhoff (9-256); and Iowa pitcher Daniel Wright (10-286).
Counsell drafted
The Diamondbacks took Brady Counsell, son of Cubs skipper Craig Counsell, in the 10th round, No. 303 overall. He played infield in college at Kansas.