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Futures Game Open Thread

By Matt W
David Kohl-USA TODAY Sports

Kicking off the All-Star events in San Diego is the Futures Game tonight, pitting the best prospects born in the U.S. against the World.

It starts at 7 PM eastern, and will be streamed free online on MLB.com.

The Blue Jays have two prospects at the Futures Game, both pitchers and both on the World team. RHP Francisco Rios (Monclava, Mexico) is the big riser in the Blue Jays system, starting the year in Lansing and quickly promoted to Dunedin. He generally works in the low 90s with his fastball, and pitches to quick and weak contact when he's at his best. He has an ERA of 1.95 in 92.1 combined innings, 86 strikeouts against 21 walks.

LHP Angel Perdomo (San Cristobal, Dominican Republic) has been mostly overpowering in Lansing when he can find the strike zone, working in the low-90s with his fastball from a huge 6'6" frame with a slurvy breaking ball and a splitter as his main secondary weapons. In 73 innings, he has a 2.71 ERA with 96 strikeouts against 34 walks. He's given up just 47 hits, resulting in one of the best opposing batting averages in the minors at a miserly .183. He was not initially on the roster, but named as a deserving replacement.

In terms of of Canadians, the lone Canuck is Tyler O'Neill from Maple Ridge, B.C., chosen by the Seattle Mariners in the 3rd round of the 2013 draft out of high school. He'll be starting in right field after hitting .308/.375/.545 with 16 home runs and 39 extra base hits as a 21 year old in AA.

Edit: Somehow I missed Josh Naylor on the roster, last year's 12th overall pick from MIssissauga, Ontario.

There are also some ex-Blue Jays and almost Blue Jays. The starting pitcher for the US team will be Joe Musgrove, chosen by the Blue Jays with a sandwich pick after the first round in 2011, and traded to Houston in the 2012 J.A. Happ trade. It took a little while, but he's figured things out and a 2.89 ERA in 71.1 innings between AA and AAA in 2016, with just 9 walks against 71 strikeouts.

Jeff Hoffman is also on the US team roster, the 9th overall pick in the 2014 draft who was traded last year as the headliner in the Troy Tulowitzki deal. In 98.1 innings at AAA, he has a 4.03 ERA (which is actually really good for Albuquerque) with 99 strikeouts against 34 walks. Also pitching for the U.S. teams is unsigned 2013 first rounder Phil Bickford.

MLB.com has plenty of coverage:

It should be fun to see a couple of rising Blue Jays prospects, as well as some of the best young players who should be soon in the major leagues, so join us!

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