MLB All-Star Futures: 5 Must-Know Proposals From the Futures Game and Skills Showcase

ARLINGTON, Texas – The All-Star Futures Game was first held in 1999 and has long been an annual showcase for the game’s best players, who are invited to participate in a seven-inning exhibition game as one of the premiere events of All-Star Weekend.

In 2024, for the first time, Major League Baseball will introduce a new element beyond exhibition games: a batting competition featuring a select group of eight young hitters showcasing their offensive skills and earning points across three different innings.

Here are five Futures Gamers who stood out in Saturday’s All-Star Game at Globe Life Field:

Roman Anthony Red Sox Player

Let’s start with the winner of the inaugural Skills Showcase, a 20-year-old midfielder who has been one of the most promising players of 2023. Although he scored almost no points in the first two rounds, focusing on hitting balls into targets and specific sections of the court, his early struggles were forfeited when he got excited in the third and final round, which focused on a much simpler task: hitting power shots. A series of power shots in a row earned Anthony enough bonus points to fuel a fierce comeback all the way to the top of the leaderboard, and he got the crowd in attendance noticeably more excited than in any of the previous rounds. What a surprise: People just want to watch power shots!

It was a remarkable display of power for a promising player known more for his overall offensive profile than his tape measure. Anthony hit just 10 home runs in 66 games in the minors this year but hit 15 doubles and had an on-base percentage of .350 as one of the youngest players in the Eastern League, a sign of his offensive ability. Along with catcher Kyle Teel and center fielder Marcelo Meyer — also in Arlington for the Futures Game festivities — Anthony is the third member of a trio of players who should arrive in Boston sometime in 2025.

Reds 3B Cam Collier

Despite being two years since his first-round pick by Cincinnati in 2022, Collier was still one of the youngest players on Futures Game rosters, not turning 20 until November. The son of former big league center fielder Lou Collier, Cam graduated high school early and enrolled at a small college in Florida, where he could boost his draft stock against older competition — similar to the path taken by Bryce Harper, albeit with far less fanfare. The plan worked: Despite falling to the 18th pick, Collier earned the 10th-highest signing bonus in his class ($5 million) as one of the most promising young hitters available. His early returns in pro ball are mixed, but his powerful strikeout to open the scoring in the Futures Game was enough to earn him the game’s Most Valuable Player award.

In just two plate appearances, Collier’s performance was a powerful distillation of why there was both reason to be excited about his potential and reason to be skeptical. In his first at-bat, he hit a 94-mph ball from Angels right-hander Kaden Dana into the relief bullpen in right-center field, a 405-foot solo blast to give the National League an early 1-0 lead. It’s a familiar sight for Collier in the first half, as he was third in the Midwest League’s Class A, a remarkable mark for one of the few teenagers in the circuit.

But on his second try, Collier struck out White Sox starter Noah Schultz in an inning in which Schultz allowed three hits and one strikeout, a reminder of Collier’s struggles against lefties this season: He’s posted a .128/.171/.218 batting average in 82 plate appearances compared to a .269/.355/.472 batting average in 248 plate appearances against right-handers. Collier’s ability to access his raw power in games appears to be improving, but how his overall hitting tool develops against better pitching in the coming years will play a big role in determining whether he becomes a major league player.

Brandon Sprott, right-handed pitcher for the New York Mets

Sprott, a second-round pick out of the University of Florida in 2023 — and also, oddly, a third-round pick in 2022, when he opted not to sign and instead returned to school for his senior year — threw the two hardest pitches in the Futures Game, with a pair of third-round submarines that topped out at 99.2 mph. He also threw a four-seam pitch that peaked at 98.9, making him the latest power pitcher to showcase two different fastballs in his arsenal.

Sprott has been one of the most effective pitchers in the minor leagues this season, ranking third among all minor leaguers who have pitched at least 70 innings, with a 1.71 earned run average and a .167 batting average. His progress toward a top-100 prospect is a huge development for a Mets farm system starved of impactful pitching.

Oakland Athletics right-handed pitcher Luis Morales

Morales, a slender, right-handed 21-year-old, ranks second only to Sprott in velocity in the game, with his best two pitches hitting 99.1 mph. He received the highest signing bonus ($3 million) of any pitcher in his international amateur class when he signed with Oakland from Cuba a few years ago, and that bonus has been evident since the start of his pro career.

In addition to his high heat, Morales can also spin it with the best of them. His curveball registered a spin rating of 2,998, the highest of any single ball in the Futures Game, and both his curveball and his pitch averaged about 2,900 RPM, which is 1,000 RPM. Among the best in MLBMorales is still playing in the first division and only starting in short periods as he slowly builds his workload, and he may be a few years away from playing for Oakland. However, he clearly has one of the highest ceilings of any pitcher in Oakland’s system.

Braves C Drake Baldwin

Early in the sixth inning, Baldwin hit a home run into the relief bullpen in left-center field, a great hit from the other side of the field that went out at 107.5 mph—the highest exit velocity of any ball batted in a Futures game this year. It’s a personal favorite of mine. Draft 2022Baldwin has been climbing the minor league ladder quickly and was promoted to the third division last month. The timing of the promotion seemed a bit odd, considering he posted a .650 OPS in 52 games in the second division, but Atlanta has clearly seen enough to believe Baldwin can handle a jump up.

And it seems they were right: Baldwin hit .309/.440/.532 in 24 games in the third division, with more hits than strikeouts. In a Braves’ very shallow farm system that was relatively short on impact players, Baldwin emerged as perhaps the most promising bat. As for whether he will eventually replace Sean Murphy as Atlanta’s primary backup or be traded for a more compelling position? That’s a question for another day.