29 former first-round picks selected for All-Star Futures Game
Former Colorado Rockies players Vinny Castilla and LaTroy Hawkins will manage the 2021 All-Star Futures Game, scheduled for July 11 at Coors Field in Denver and featuring 29 former first-round draft picks.
The game featuring up-and-coming major leaguers has been a staple of MLB All-Star Game festivities since 1999. The rosters were announced Wednesday.
Hawkins will manage the American League Futures squad, which features the past two No. 1 overall picks: third baseman Spencer Torkelson, 21, selected by the Detroit Tigers in 2020, and catcher Adley Rutschman, 23, the Baltimore Orioles' pick in 2019.
Both players are in Double-A ball this season, with Torkelson at Erie (.290, eight home runs and 37 RBIs) and Rutschman at Bowie (.287, 11 homers, 32 RBIs).
Among the 29 former first-round picks, 16 are on the AL roster, with the other 13 playing for the NL. The teams also include five second-round picks (all NL) and one third-round pick (NL). Of the first-round picks, seven were selected in the 2020 draft, 11 in the 2019 draft, five in the 2018 draft, five in the 2017 draft and one in the 2016 draft.
The American League squad also has four other first-round picks from 2019: Kansas City's Bobby Witt Jr., Detroit's Riley Greene, San Diego's CJ Abrams and Cincinnati's Nick Lodolo.
Castilla's National League team is headlined by Miami's Max Meyer, the third overall pick in the 2020 draft.
The two teams also have a combined 15 internationally born players from seven countries and territories. The Dominican Republic is represented by eight players, followed by two players from Cuba, and one apiece from Canada, Colombia, Mexico, Puerto Rico and Venezuela.
The youngest player on either squad is Francisco Alvarez, a New York Mets catching prospect who will turn 20 on Nov. 19. He currently is assigned to the Brooklyn Cyclones (High-A East).
Among the coaches in the Futures Game will be Andruw Jones, a five-time All-Star, and Rachel Balkovec, who will become the first female coach in Futures Game history. She is a minor-league batting instructor for the New York Yankees.
MLB Network will broadcast the game, which is scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. ET.
Coors Field will host the MLB All-Star Game on July 13.
--Field Level Media
