Last year, MLN FAB50 2005 No. 1 prospect Felix Hernandez opted for the Futures Game, but bowed out of the Triple-A All-Star Game in Sacramento. So did No. 2, the Durham Bulls' top prospect Delmon Young. BJ Upton, another top D-Rays farmhand, made it to Sacramento, but didn’t make an appearance until the morning of the game.
While no president of a minor league is apt to go on the record to complain about the MLB Futures Game robbing them of their showcase players, internally and off-the-record it remains at best a “challenge.”
Minor League All-Star games are big money for the team hosting the event, and one of the few prestige events that these leagues used to be able pull off without having to worry much about major league call-ups. Leagues have found that championship games at the end of a minor league season are difficult, because many of the players that bring the team to that winning record are called up and shifted around at season’s end.
The More Stars
In some showcases, more young, up-and-coming players are given the opportunity to shine as they are called in as replacements at minor league all-star events. More often though, particularly in the Triple-A, older players with talent looking for one more shot at the big leagues, like Mike Coolbaugh or Joe Thurston, will pick up the replacement nod.
“It’s the difference between present and future,” one baseball executive, requesting anonymity, said. “The PCL or the Texas League may be the present, but MLB owns the future. It’s hard to get excited about Toledo and ESPN-2 when the Futures game is really the doorway to their future.”
<<Back | 1 | 2 | 3 | Next>>
