MLB Futures Game 2024: Live Updates From Globe Life Field
Image credit: Nolan Ryan statue outside of Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas on Thursday, July 11, 2024 (Photo by Eddie Kelly / ProLook Photos)
The 2024 edition of the annual MLB Futures Game is set for Saturday at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas. Baseball America will be onsite throughout the day to bring you live updates, insights and more as the game’s best prospects show off their budding talents in this highly-anticipated exhibition showcase.
More Futures Game Coverage
- Previewing Every Futures Game Prospect
- SNEAK PEEK: See the Futures Game Program PDF Presented by Baseball America
- PODCAST: Breaking Down Potential Futures Game Standouts
- Five Futures Game Players We’re Excited To See, Four We Wish Were Here & More
Live Updates
5:00 p.m. CT (JJ Cooper): Chandler Simpson is in his second year in the outfield. It showed on a play here in the seventh as he failed to get in front of a Jeral Perez single. It skidded by him to put Perez at second on Simpson’s error. A Winston Santos’ wild pitch then moved Perez to third.
4:53 p.m. CT (JJ Cooper): Chandler Simpson hit a comebacker to pitcher Quinn Mathews. He ran it out, but was thrown out by a few steps so he never got to top speed and cruised into the base after the out was recorded. It’s a comebacker after all. In doing so, Simpson turned in a 4.25 home-to-first time. That’s very slow for Simpson, but it’s also the fastest home to first time of the game (by more than a tenth of a second). His 28.5 feet/second sprint speed is barely a job for Simpson, but it was the fastest sprint speed recorded so far as well.
4:47 p.m. CT (JJ Cooper): Drake Baldwin is one of the two close to the majors position prospects in the Braves’ organization. He’s been mashing the ball since he was promoted to Triple-A and he’s mashing in the Futures Game. Baldwin just lined a ball 411 feet into the NL bullpen in left field. It’s 5-1 NL and we’re got just 1.5 innings to go.
4:40 p.m. CT (JJ Cooper): Jaison Chourio has some bragging rights with his brother now. Jackson may have the long-term massive contract and is playing in the big leagues with the Brewers, but Jackson went 0-for-4 in the Futures Game. Jaison is 1-for-2 with an RBI.
4:38 p.m. CT (JJ Cooper): And we have the NL mass changes. Matt Shaw is at third base, Cooper Pratt is at shortstop, Jeral Perez is at second base, Deyvison De Los Santos is at first. James Triantos is in left field. Thayron Liranzo is at catcher. Druw Jones stayed in center and Dylan Crews remains in right from the starting lineup.
4:35 p.m. CT (JJ Cooper): For this game duplicate numbers are not an issue. So we have three NL #6 playing (Druw Jones, Cam Collier and Rhett Lowder), three AL’s #1s (Harry Ford, Sebastian Walcott, Cole Young), three AL #12s (Caden Dana, Luis Morales and Colson Montgomery), and three NL #13s (Bubba Chandler, Noble Meyer and Justin Crawford). There is only one #93 (Spencer Jones).
4:22 p.m. CT (JJ Cooper): The second wave of AL Futures Gamers have entered for the fifth inning. Hao-Yu Lee is now playing third base. Marcelo Mayer is at shortstop. Luke Keaschall is at second base. Kyle Teel is catching. Chandler Simpson is in left. Gavin Cross is in right field. Max Clark is the only starter that remained in the game.
4:13 p.m. CT (JJ Cooper): Guardians’ outfielder Jaison Chourio gets the AL on the board with an RBI single. He asked for the ball (as he should) after reaching first. NL 4, AL 1. Ralphy Velazquez is pinch-hitting to give this a back-to-back Guardians’ prospect combo platter. Velazquez had a great and loud BP. Thomas White walked him and the bases are loaded. We have a ballgame.
4:08 p.m. CT (JJ Cooper): We have our first stolen base of the game. Spencer Jones stole second off the combination of Ethan Salas and Thomas White, but it was really all off of White. Jones got a great jump and while Salas got off a good throw, there was no chance. At the Louisville Slugger/Baseball America Prospect Pad yesterday, Salas said that he feels his throwing has significantly improved this season.
4:00 p.m. CT (JJ Cooper): Noah Schultz had a rough outing. Three soft hits, a walk, a strikeout of Cam Collier and then a hit-by-pitch of Aidan Miller. He recorded one out, he’s given up two runs already and the three baserunners are his responsibility as Astros righthander A.J. Blubaugh takes over. Drake Baldwin lined the first pitch he saw to center for a sac fly. It’s 4-0 NL.
3:54 p.m. CT (JJ Cooper): White Sox lefty Noah Schultz has given up three straight hits and a walk to allow a run without recording an out. None were hit hard, as Termarr Johnson hit a ball 66 mph the other way; Bryce Eldridge followed with a 74 mph opposite-field single and then Ethan Salas hit a 52 mph chopper to first base that turned into an infield single. Druw Jones then walked and it’s 2-0 NL.
3:49 p.m. CT (JJ Cooper): Phillies shortstop Aidan Miller committed the second error of the game when he failed to field a short hop on a Sebastian Walcott grounder. He made up for it by starting a double play on a Samuel Basallo ground ball to end the inning.
3:43 p.m. CT (JJ Cooper): Phillies left fielder Justin Crawford’s 101.7 mph line drive is the second hardest hit ball of the game, but it has another claim to fame: It knocked White Sox third baseman Colson Montgomery’s glove off his hand.
Attention Josh Norris: Between innings we met both bat dogs that have been selected for the Futures Game. The Arkansas Travelers’ Dizzy and the Frisco RoughRiders’ Brooks are both here. To be honest, as awesome as they both are, Dizzy looks like a fully developed good boy rather than a young prospect on the way up.
3:39 p.m. CT (JJ Cooper): Reds third baseman Cam Collier just welcomed Caden Dana to the game with a 409-foot home run to the AL bullpen in right field. Collier also showed that power during BP. The National League leads 1-0.
3:36 p.m. CT (JJ Cooper): The NL starting outfield is Justin Crawford in left, Druw Jones in center and Dylan Crews in right. That’s a rangy outfield. Crawford has twice made solid plays to end innings.
3:35 p.m. CT (JJ Cooper): Harry Ford walked in his first plate appearance. If you’ve followed the Mariners’ catcher’s career at all, that fact will be the least surprising development of the Futures Game.
3:28 p.m. CT (JJ Cooper): Emiliano Teodo (Rangers) was really impressive in his two innings of work. He cruised as the NL lineup didn’t ever really threaten him. He touched 98.8 mph for his highest velocity and threw 12 strikes in 14 pitches.
3:22 p.m. CT (JJ Cooper): Phillies left fielder Justin Crawford just saved a run with a diving catch on a sinking liner off the bat of Spencer Jones. Chase Dollander gets out of the first scoreless after allowing a single to Cole Young and a walk to Samuel Basallo.
Teodo gets a second inning, which is surprising in a seven-inning game. In the NL bullpen it was either Noble Meyer or Bubba Chandler warming up to take the second. (Both are righthanders, both are wearing No. 13 and the zoom on my phone does have its limits).
3:17 p.m. CT (JJ Cooper): That was a very easy and quick first inning for Emiliano Teodo. No one currently throwing in the AL bullpen.
A nice start for Chase Dollander as well with a fly out to center field. Druw Jones made shagging fly balls in batting practice look effortless. He was extremely smooth. His first out in the game was equally smooth. So was the second out, also to Jones. (Mariners’ second baseman Cole Young did hit a single in-between those two outs).
3:11 p.m. CT (JJ Cooper): It’s pronounced Ben Kuhdernuh.
3:10 p.m. CT (Savannah McCann): Here are the starting lineups.
3:10 pm. CT (Geoff Pontes): We’ll see some velo to start this game.
3:03 p.m. CT (JJ Cooper): I will try to turn this into something more readable at some point today.
2:59 p.m. CT (JJ Cooper): This is my 12th straight Futures Game (there was no game in 2020), and I always try to do a scan of the stadium as the game begins to soak everything in.
The crowd generally gets larger and larger in the later innings, as it fills in because of the Celebrity Softball game that follows . . . I promise that sentence was even more painful for me to write than it was for you to read.
But this is the smallest/sparsest crowd for first pitch I’ve seen in those 12 Futures Games. If you’re wondering, the crowd as Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City was easily the best of those 12 games.
2:46 p.m. CT (JJ Cooper): As the players line the first and third base lines for the pre-game introductions, there’s a cool tweak this year. While Futures Game players (like the MLB All-Star teams) are wearing special Futures Game jerseys, they are all wearing their MiLB team’s hats.
It’s a fun change, as the players immediately become more recognizable in some cases, but it also gives a chance for fans who haven’t seen them to check out MiLB hats.
Maybe one day the players could wear their MiLB uniforms for the game.
1:55 p.m. CT (JJ Cooper): Reds third baseman Cam Collier’s eight home runs were the most by anyone in the National League. but that wasn’t enough to catch Velazquez for the overall Futures Game BP home run crown.
Collier actually had an entire round where he needed just one homer to tie Velazquez, but he went homerless in that final round. D’backs first baseman Deyvison De Los Santos had seven home runs, including arguably the most impressive blast of the entire BP. De Los Santos cleared the second deck in left field, reaching the concourse. He was the only hitter who got to the concourse.
Giants first baseball Bryce Eldridge finished with six home runs, but he had the most impressive round of the day. He hit four home runs in a row at one point.
The complete NL BP HR leaderboard was:
1. Cam Collier (CIN) 8
2. Deyvison De Los Santos (ARI) 7
3. Bryce Eldridge (SFG), Drake Baldwin (ATL) 6
4. Jeral Perez (LAD) 5
5. Cooper Pratt (MIL), Thayron Liranzo (LAD), Brady House (WAS) 4
6. Aidan Miller (PHI), Termarr Johnson (PIT), Moises Ballesteros (CHC), Justin Crawford (PHI) 3
7. Dylan Crews (WAS) 2
8. Druw Jones (ARI), Ethan Salas (SD) 1.
1 p.m. CT (JJ Cooper): The American League Futures Game batting practice has wrapped up. Overall there were plenty of displays of solid hitting, but if you were looking for a Joey Gallo-esque display of massive raw power, it wasn’t (generally) that kind of BP.
Guardians first baseman Ralphy Velazquez hit nine BP home runs to easily top the (very unofficial) leaderboard compiled by myself and Geoff Pontes. Velazquez did show the best pure power in the BP rounds as well, with the consistent ability to barrel balls into right field. He didn’t hit the furthest home run, but he did arguably hit some of the most towering shots.
Mariners catcher Harry Ford showed the ability to both hit hard line drives on swing after swing but toss in some solid power as well. Yankees outfielder Spencer Jones and Orioles catcher Samuel Basallo hit some of the longest drives of the BP, with both getting to the middle of the right center lower deck stands with consistent pull-side power. Basallo also hit one off the right edge of the batter’s eye.
Rangers shortstop Sebastian Walcott got to his power extremely easy, with a fast bat that stung balls.
The complete AL Futures Game BP Home Run Leaderboard was:
1. Ralphy Velazquez (CLE) 9
2. Samuel Basallo (BAL) 5
3 (tie): Sebastian Walcott (TEX), Spencer Jones (NYY), Colson Montgomery (CWS), Harry Ford (SEA) 4
4 (tie): Romany Anthony (BOS), Hao-Yu Lee (DET) 3
5 (tie): Max Clark (DET), Kyle Teel (BOS), Cole Young (SEA), Jaison Chourio (CLE), Tre’ Morgan (TB), Xavier Isaac (TB) , Luke Keaschall (MIN) 2
