On July 16, the game’s brightest prospects will gather at Dodger Stadium for the 2022 Futures Game Tournament. The Futures Game is MLB’s annual showcase of the sport’s top potential leagues, some of whom will make their big league debuts in the second half. And you know what? Some will be traded on the deadline. This is how it has been throughout the history of Futures Game.
The full 2022 Futures Game rosters will be released on Thursday. Wednesday, MLB Network Radio has taken over the Futures Game rosters by revealing the first four players in each league. Here are the first eight 2022 Futures players and theirs MLB.com Top 100 Ranking Prospects List:
American League
Leiter, runner-up in the 2021 draft, is the headliner among the top four names in the AL. The son of longtime great player AL Leiter has had a season of ups and downs, if not a disappointing season given its pedigree. The Rays acquired Mead from the Phillies for Christopher Sanchez in the minor league in November 2019 and have developed into one of the favorites. Bosch was a selection for the second round in 2021, and Rafaela is having an outstanding season in the first and second division.
National League
More star power on the NL side, at least among the first four players. Carroll missed most of last season with a shoulder injury and is a dynamic threat to strength/speed with an excellent field defense. Perez rips Double-A when he was 19, posting a 3.21 ERA with 77 strikes in 56 rounds. Padres picked Hassell with the 8th pick in the 2020 Draft and tops the Minors Harrison with 116 strikes in just 65 1/3 rounds.
Notably, a potential Cubs Arena Pete Crowe-Armstrong is also heading into the Futures Game.
The Cubs acquired Crow-Armstrong in last season’s deal with Javier Báez with the Mets. It was the 19th selection in the 2020 draft.
Futures Game aims to showcase the best game odds and is not necessarily an All-Star game with the best performing players in the Palace. However, there is a lot of overlap with “top leads” and “best performers”. Potential Cubs company Brennen Davis was named Futures Game Player of the Year last year.
Futures Game has been around since 1999 and originally appeared in USA vs. World format. In 2019, MLB shortened the Futures game to seven rounds and adopted the AL vs. NL format.
