ATLANTA — The MLB Futures Game occupies a bizarre slot in both the baseball calendar and the baseball consciousness. Held on the Saturday afternoon of All-Star weekend, the contest runs concurrently to meaningful big-league games on the penultimate day of the regular season’s first half. But while that — and the league’s decision to make the exhibition a seven-inning affair — robs the event of some shine, the sheer superstar potential present in the game always makes noise.
Just look at the list of alumni: Ronald Acuña Jr., Bryce Harper, Mike Trout, Pete Crow-Armstrong, Aaron Judge, Clayton Kershaw, Zack Wheeler, Bobby Witt Jr. and many, many more. In fact, a whopping 21% of former Futures Game participants have made an All-Star Game. And nowadays, the path from the Futures Game to big-league stardom is shorter than ever. Nationals slugger James Wood, who will participate in Monday’s Home Run Derby, was named to the Futures Game last season but was called up before the event.
This year’s edition, held on an unrelentingly hot and humid Georgia day, was, unfortunately, sparsely attended. Maybe it was the weather or the lack of headline Braves prospects or the soul-crushing Braves season. But whatever the reason, the empty seats didn’t take away from the action on the diamond. The Futures Game remains an extremely valuable exercise — for both nerds/analysts like us and fans like you.
Josue De Paula hit a rocket HR off Noah Schultz
The defining moment of Saturday’s contest — the National League won 4-2, if you were wondering — came in the fourth inning: a hair-raising, three-run laser beam off the bat of Dodgers outfield prospect Josue De Paula. Facing the White Sox’s 6-foot-10, skyscraper southpaw, Noah Schultz, De Paula scooped a hanging breaker 108.5 mph over the tall Truist Park wall in right.
It was an impressive display from a fascinating player. De Paula was born in Brooklyn to Dominican parents and has an unmistakably thick New York accent. Instead of matriculating into pro ball through the draft, he signed out of the D.R. as an international free agent in 2022. At 6-foot-3, 210 pounds with broad shoulders and explosive hips, De Paula projects to grow into potentially elite power. He also has an extremely advanced feel for the strike zone for a player his age, an approach that, at times, has been overly passive.
But 2025 has been an encouraging step forward for the Dodgers’ No. 1 prospect, according to MLB Pipeline. Playing for the High-A Great Lakes Loons, De Paula has ripped 10 homers while hitting 39% better than league average. Most notably, he’s rocking a .409 OBP.
On Saturday, De Paula exhibited why so many talent evaluators ranked him in their Top 100 lists last offseason. That 108.5 mph rocket off his bat was remarkable, yet for a player as talented as De Paula, it feels like scratching the surface. He has a cathedral ceiling, and it was awesome to see those heights on display.
Jurrangelo Cijntje pitches with both arms
The 22-year-old Curaçaoan has been a famous name for a while now because, well, there aren’t any other ambidextrous pitchers in the sport. Cijntje (pronounced SAINT-jeh) was born in the Netherlands, grew up in Curaçao and attended high school in Florida. That’s when he started generating buzz on the showcase circuit as a hard-throwing, athletic hurler who could legitimately pitch with both arms. But given the nature of his schtick (and the risk of high school pitching), pro clubs passed on Cijntje in the draft, and the “TWP” attended Mississippi State. He starred there, growing into more fastball velocity, and was drafted 15th overall last year by Seattle.
Saturday was the first opportunity to watch Cijntje on a big-league mound. And you know what? It was pretty dang rad.
The ease, the nonchalantness, with which Cijntje twirled his glove from his left to his right, like it was a thing pitchers have been doing for centuries, was delightful. He punched out Brewers prospect Jesús Made righty, got De Paula to fly out lefty and then swapped back to righty against Padres infielder LuJames Groover (single) and Marlins catcher Joe Mack (strikeout swinging).
Cijntje, currently with High-A Everett Aqua Sox, will certainly deploy the two-arm attack at some point in the bigs. But if he keeps developing the right-handed side — he’s usually in the mid-90s with devastating carry and a difficult angle from the right, while he’s a tick lower and less heralded from the left — the back-and-forth thing might get binned down the road. That’s one of those good problems. For now, just go back and watch Cijntje’s inning from Saturday.
JJ Wetherholt will be in St. Louis soon enough
It was just one year ago when JJ Wetherholt was selected seventh overall by the St. Louis Cardinals out of West Virginia University, and it shouldn’t be long before he becomes the latest 2024 first-rounder to make his major-league debut. Revered as one of the best hitters in last year’s draft class, Wetherholt has unsurprisingly raced through the Cardinals’ system and was promoted to Triple-A shortly before he took a detour from his minor-league season to participate in the Futures Game as the Cardinals’ top prospect.
Wetherholt led off the game with a double against Cleveland left-hander Parker Messick, a sharp line drive into the left-center-field gap that came off the bat at 105.9 mph, the third-hardest hit ball of the Futures Game. In the fourth inning, he scalded another ball (102.4 mph exit velocity) into the left-center-field gap against White Sox southpaw Schultz, though that one was tracked down by rangy Orioles center-field prospect Enrique Bradfield Jr. These were two sweet swings against tough southpaws for the lefty-hitting Wetherholt, a reminder of his advanced comfort facing same-handed pitching, which has been on display all season: Wetherholt’s .867 OPS vs. left-handers isn’t far off the .940 mark he has posted vs. righties.
Wetherholt played second base Saturday, a position he has spent a fair amount of time this season, though he has played more shortstop. He can handle either spot just fine, but with his debut rapidly approaching — if not before the end of this season, Wetherholt will surely be competing for a roster spot next spring — it’ll be interesting to see how St. Louis deploys him defensively with Masyn Winn and Brendan Donovan seemingly entrenched up the middle in the majors.
George Klassen and Brody Hopkins bring the heat
This year’s Futures Game rosters didn’t feature quite as many standout flame-throwers as in years past, but you can always count on a few hurlers to come out throwing absolute smoke. This year, that was Klassen and Hopkins, two right-handers currently in Double-A who were both selected in the sixth round of the 2023 draft and were both traded at last year’s deadline. Originally drafted by the Phillies, Klassen was dealt to the Angels as part of the Carlos Estévez trade, while Hopkins was drafted by Seattle and traded to the Rays in exchange for Randy Arozarena.
Hopkins (3.35 ERA) is currently having a much better season in the Southern League than Klassen (6.49 ERA), but it was Klassen who had the slight edge in the velocity department Saturday, as he maxed out at 99.2 mph twice while Hopkins mustered 99 flat once. Both pitchers have humongous stuff beyond the heaters, but both will need to dial in their control if they’re going to be starters long-term.
Slade Caldwell made the defensive play of the game
The best defensive play of the Futures Game belonged to D-backs outfield prospect Slade Caldwell, who robbed Yankees prospect George Lombard Jr. of a hit in the seventh inning with a sprawling catch on a sinking liner to straightaway center field.
It was a brilliant snag for the 19-year-old, who has gotten off to a fast start to his pro career since being selected 28th overall last summer out of an Arkansas high school. Listed at 5-foot-9, 182 pounds, Caldwell was comfortably the smallest player on either team’s roster, but his size has never limited his ability to make an impact on both sides of the ball.
He raked for 48 games with Low-A Visalia (.914 OPS) before earning a promotion to High-A, where he has continued to reach base at an impressive clip (.353 OBP). He’s struggling to slug with Hillsboro, but it’s no sweat for a player who is one of the youngest in the Northwest League and has already surpassed expectations in his first full pro season. Caldwell is clearly a prospect worth getting excited about for Snakes fans.
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