MLB All-Star Week festivities kick off Saturday with the MLB Futures Game in Arlington, Texas. This showcase of young players from across the sport is a great place for more casual fans to see the top prospects in baseball. The diehards — and those who work in the industry — use it as a check-in to see if they have missed any risers or fallers in the first half of the minor league season.
If you’re looking for those to pay particular attention to this year, these are the baker’s dozen prospects whom I’m most excited to see in this year’s game (breakout Phillies shortstop Aidan Miller doesn’t make the list only because I already tracked him down earlier this spring in Florida).
Schultz is the second-best pitching prospect in the minor leagues, just behind Detroit’s Jackson Jobe. That alone is enough to get onto this list — the Futures Game is often a pitching-focused showcase — but Schultz is fascinating for plenty of reasons. He’s 6-foot-9 and slings plus stuff from a low slot, a delivery that would make casual fans blurt out names like Chris Sale, Madison Bumgarner or Garrett Crochet. There aren’t many precedents for this kind of talent.
Want to see some big dudes hit the ball really far? These three all have plus-plus raw power from the left side, fit comfortably on a top-100 list and should debut in the next 12 months. Batting practice displays at this game can sometimes be a bit ridiculous (they might sneak a few Titleists in), but these guys will really put on a show, making it clear why they are being counted on by playoff-caliber AL East clubs. Basallo might take the longest to debut; Baltimore has to suss out if the team wants to wait for the 19-year-old’s catching chops to catch up with his hitting (or if it should just get his bat up ASAP). Isaac could be one of the rare difference-makers as a first-base-only type — think a lefty pete Alonso. Jones hasn’t quite dialed in his approach to maximize his upside yet, but it could click at any time.
