Royals Splash
It was a Royal night at the MLB Futures game, the premiere showcase of top minor league talent as Alex Gordon and Billy Butler demonstrate why Kansas City picks are USDA prime.
Jason Blasco
MinorLeagueNews.com
PITTSBURGH- For the second straight season, Kansas City Royals prospects had a major impact on an offensively explosive 2006 XM Satellite Radio All-Star Futures game at PNC Park.
The Royals have reason to be optimistic about the future, entering the All-Star break 31-56 with their two top picks Alex Gordon from the 2005 draft, and 2004’s top pick Billy Butler looking to pan out.
Gordon combined with Butler to bat 4-for-6, with a homerun, and hitting four RBI, a large chunk of the 11 hits for the United States team.
Players are organized into World and United States (US) clubs.
The Futures game, which was developed to add a little more hoopla to the major league all-star break, has eclipsed the minor league all-star events as the dominant showcase of talent.
In the place to be seen, the US All-Star Futures roster alone boasted nine former first-round draft picks.
Philadelphia Phillies prospect Gio Gonzalez said in a pre-game interview that he hoped it would be a pitching-dominated game, but it was the batters who ruled the showcase.
The World drew first blood, with the Dodgers’ Chin Lung Hu’s double on a soft line drive to right fielder Hunter Pence that drove in San Diego Padre’s George Kottaras.
The 1-0 lead would not last. Billy Butler’s two-run shot off Marlins prospect Jose Garcia in the bottom half of the second inning gave the US a 2-1 advantage.
In the bottom of the third, Gordon drove in Arizona Diamondbacks Stephen Drew to make the score 3-1.
Hunter Pence retaliated for Hu’s liner when he drove in Howie Kendrick to make the score 4-1. Josh Fields (White Sox) then drove in Alex Gordon and to make the score 5-1 and Joseph Koshansk hit a 2-run shot driving in Hunter Pence to make the score 7-1.
The World team got back in the game by scoring three runs in the fourth off Philip Hughes, the New York Yankees' top pitching prospect.
Wladimir Balentien hit a RBI double and Kottaras followed with a two-run homer to make it 7-4.
Hughes gave up a hard single back through the box to 17-year-old outfielder Jose Tabata, also in the Yankees' system and the youngest player in the Futures Game.
"This was a really good experience for both of us," Butler said of his night to shine with teammate Gordon. “There's a lot of talent here, and that's how you get better, by playing against talent like this.”
Gordon talked about his performance and experience at the game.
“This was one of the bigger experiences for me,” Gordon said. “I am just happy I was able to come out here and represent ourselves and the Royals organization well.”
