2023 Futures Game Preview

July 7, 2023 Tony Bps Futures Game, General, MiLB 0

Jackson Merrill, Arizona Fall League, November 3, 2022. Photo credit Scott Greene, @Scotty_Ballgame on Twitter.
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The SiriusXM All-Star Futures Game is scheduled for this Saturday, July 8th at 7pm eastern (4pm pacific) in Seattle’s T-Mobile Park, part of MLB All-Star Festivities. From the first game in 1999 until 2018, the United States faced off against the World’s prospects. That format changed in 2019 where the National League’s prospects square off against the American League’s. This game features most of the game’s top prospects where they can showcase their talents to a greater audience.

Let’s take a look at the rosters broken down by position to see which team has the advantage. The first number next to the player is his ranking in our Overall Top 199 Prospects from earlier this year. The second number is the player’s ranking on his team’s Top 50 list from January. Our updated midseason team Top 50s are due to be released later this month.

Catchers:

American League:
Harry Ford, Sea 54 / 2
Edgar Quero, LAA 99 / 3
Tyler Soderstrom, OAK 48 / 1

National League:
Jeferson Quero, MIL Unranked / 9
Dalton Rushing, LAD 97 / 8

Advantage: American League
As impressive as Rushing is, Ford and Soderstom are both solid prospects with Soderstrom knocking on the door of the major leagues. Expect him to be called up shortly after the break. Quero’s numbers have fallen off from last year but he’s holding his own as a 20-year-old in AA.

Infielders:

American League:
Junior Caminero, TB 90 / 6
Jackson Holliday, BAL 13 / 3
Colt Keith, DET 107 / 5
Justyn-Henry Malloy, DET Unranked / 6
Kyle Manzardo, TB 28 / 1
Marcelo Mayer, BOS 12 / 1
Kyren Paris, LAA Unranked / 10
Nick Yorke, BOS 102 / 4

National League:
Ryan Bliss, ARI Unranked / 21
Brady House, WAS 111 / 5
Jordan Lawlar, ARI 7 / 3
Noelvi Marte, CIN 21 / 2
Jackson Merrill, SD 45 / 1
B.J. Murray, JR. CHI Unranked / Unranked
Nasim Nunez, MIA Unranked / 10
Endy Rodriguez, PIT 31 / 2

Advantage: American League
5 out of the 8 American Leaguers here are from the East, whose teams show no sign of slowing down with their success in player development. Both Holliday and Caminero have been mentioned as the top prospect in baseball. Yorke and Mayer are a formidable, talented duo for the Red Sox, while Paris shows a nice blend of speed and power for the Angels. On the other side, Lawler, Marte and House are an impressive trio in their own right. Marte and Rodriguez should both get promotions to the majors later this year. It’s interesting to see Rodriguez listed here rather than a catcher on the official roster list but he should remain catcher-eligible for a few years.

Outfielders:

American League:
Lawrence Butler, OAK Unranked / 10
Jonatan Clase, SEA Unranked / 10
Drew Gilbert, HOU 134 Unranked /3
Spencer Jones, NYY 109 / 6
Heston Kjerstad, BAL 120 / 11

National League:
Jackson Chourio, MIL 5 / 1
Justin Crawford, PHI 197 / 5
Pete Crow-Armstrong, CHI 22 / 1
Yanquiel Fernandez, COL Unranked / 8
Victor Scott II, STL Unranked / 16
James Wood, WAS 11 / 1

Advantage: National League
There is some impressive speed among these outfielders led by hometown kid, Clase, who already has 43 steals to go along with 16 home runs as of July 3rd. Kjerstad is a great story, bouncing back after health injuries that have held him back since being drafted. The National League boasts perhaps the best prospect in baseball in Chourio who’s been heating up after a slow start. Fernandez is tearing it up for Colorado’s AA Yard Goats and Crawford is making a name for himself for the Phillies. Wood is having a great year for Washington, also, giving them hope for the future.

Pitchers:

American League:
Clayton Beeter, NYY Unranked / 10
Jonathan Cannon, CHI Unranked / 12
Joey Cantillo, CLE 183 /24
Luis Guerrero, BOS Unranked / Unranked
David Festa, MIN Unranked / 15
Will Klein, KC Unranked / 38
Sem Robberse, TOR Unranked / 14
Owen White, TEX 100 Unranked / 4
Yosver Zulueta, TOR Unranked / 5

National League:
Mick Abel, PHI 75 / 2
Kyle Harrison, SF 30 / 1
Tink Hence, STL 55 / 5
J.P. Massey, PIT Unranked / Unranked
Jacob Misiorowski, MIL 194 / 9
Patrick Monteverde, MIA Unranked / Unranked
Spencer Schwellenbach, ATL Unranked / 7
Mike Vasil, NYM Unranked / 12
Carson Whisenhunt, SF Unranked / 14

Advantage: National League
With potential aces and top-of-the-rotation starters like Abel, Harrison, Hence and Vasil, the National League easily has the advantage over their counterparts. The others are having great seasons, also, with Misiorowski quickly climbing the ladder in Milwaukee. That’s not to sell any of the other pitchers short as Beeter is having a solid year and White is coming back very well from his past injuries.

Managers and Notable Coaches:

American League:
Harold Reynolds, Manager, All-Star – 1997,1998, Current MLB Network Broadcaster
Jay Buhner
Alvin Davis
Jamie Moyer

National League:
Raul Ibanez, Manager, All-Star – 2009, Current MLB VP of On-Field Operations
Adrian Beltre
Felix Hernandez
Randy Winn

Advantage: Even
Both coaching staffs represent sort of a Mount Rushmore of past Seattle Mariner alumni, leaving us to wonder what plans Ken Griffey Jr., and Phil Bradley have this weekend to not be included. All of the coaches were solid players in their era and should provide great advice to their players.

Game Prediction:

National League wins 10-3. The old saying is, good pitching always beats good hitting, and this game should prove that to be true in Seattle. Both teams have potential stars littered throughout their rosters, but the National League has the better pitchers to outlast the American League.

MVP Prediction:

Noelvi Marte. The former Seattle Mariner prospect was recently promoted to AAA and will continue his recent good fortune showing his old fanbase what they will be missing once he’s promoted, perhaps later this season.

Futures Game Podcast

Nate Eckert and Michael Kelley recently sat down and talked about all of these players on our Prospects1500 Futures Focus podcast. Michael will be at the Futures Game and Nate will be in Seattle for the MLB Draft.

Due to injury, Boston’s Luis Guerrero replaces Shane Drohan on the AL roster.

Tony Bps

Tony Bps Spina is a lifelong baseball fan hailing from the City of Brotherly Love - Philadelphia! Tony has loved baseball since 1980 and has followed the Phillies through good and bad times. Tony is married with 3 kids and works for a financial institution but has enough free time to play in 20 fantasy baseball leagues with 75% of them being Dynasty Leagues. He lives a few blocks away from Citizens Bank Park and attends many Phillies games per year in addition to their minor league teams in Lehigh Valley and Reading. He can be reached on Twitter at @TonyBps1.

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