A.J. Burnett: "There's no other colors I'd rather wear there"

About an hour after Monday’s game ended, A.J. Burnett and Jeff Locke walked across the field at PNC Park to get to their cars. Sprinting in front of them, in a big circle around the infield, were A.J. Jr. and Ashton, Burnett’s two sons.

“I was talking with my wife last night about it,” Burnett had said minutes before, after the Pirates beat the Padres, and a few hours after Burnett had made the first All-Star team in his 17-year career. “I just want to do it for my boys. I want them to get out there and maybe shag during the Home Run Derby or just watch it on the field so they can cherish that moment. It's going to be special for them.”

Burnett joined Andrew McCutchen, Mark Melancon and Gerrit Cole on the NL team. The Pirates have two starting pitchers in the All-Star game for the first time since 1960, when Bob Friend and Vernon Law made the team.

"Everybody in the clubhouse was ecstatic about A.J. being picked," Cole said, "because of all the time he's played in this game and all the opportunities he's had and probably fallen just short."

After his start Monday night, Burnett has a 1.99 ERA in 113 innings across 17 starts and 94 strikeouts. He is tied with today’s starter, Tyson Ross, for the fewest home runs allowed in the majors among qualified starters, with three. 

“Focus, determination, my defense, my catcher, just a little bit of everything,” Burnett said. “I'm in a good spot, in a good place, I feel good. I'm executing pitches when I need to more than I have in a long, long time.”

Burnett, on representing the Pirates: “I'll tell you one thing, there's no other colors I'd rather wear there, that's for sure. This is my home, man. I want to represent these guys and this locker room and the city and this organization for my first time in an All-Star game.”

On the clubhouse reaction when Clint Hurdle announced it: “There was a lot of clapping going on. There was a lot of guys in here who deserve it. The guy behind the plate today, for sure. He's an All-Star in my book. I'm not there without [Francisco] Cervelli.”

Hurdle: “When we shared first the guys that were picked by the players, which is always a tremendous honor, when your peers choose you to be on the club. We did them one at a time. Everybody got the slow clap that builds up to a loud clap. We shared with them, the manager’s pick, which was A.J. I don’t think there was anything slow about the clap. There was a lot of hooting and hollering. He was pumped up. I can’t even imagine the feelings that he has to put the time, the effort, the energy, what he’s been through and done in his career, to never make an All-Star team and this year, in the midst of the farewell tour, to get that opportunity to be hand-picked by arguably the best manager [Bruce Bochy] in baseball, pretty cool. Extremely, extremely cool.”

McCutchen made his fifth consecutive All-Star team and will start in place of Giancarlo Stanton, who had surgery to repair a broken hamate bone. 

“A couple guys went down, so it would mean a little more if that wasn’t the case,” said McCutchen, also referencing Nori Aoki and the questionable Matt Holliday. “But being the next man up, it’ll be a fun, good time, looking forward to it.”

McCutchen on Burnett making the team: “I’m so happy for him. … If they chose one person on this team, I want it to be A.J.”

Cole made his first All-Star team. He ranks fifth in the NL with a 2.28 ERA and sixth in strikeouts with 113. He has been dominant for much of this season. 

“It hasn't really sunk in yet,” he said. “We got the news a few hours ago, right before the game, so we had some business to take care of."

We will chat today at noon. You can find it here. I’ll open the chat room early so you can submit questions, and I’ll get to them when we begin.