TRENDY: Noah Syndergaard MLB Debut

Noah Syndergaard, the Baseball America #11 MLB prospect for 2015, is scheduled to make his Major League debut tonight versus the Cubs in Chicago.

2013 07 14 Noah Syndergaard vs Xander Bogaerts

This is, however, not Syndergaard's first appearance in a Major League Ballpark. He likely has been involved in a couple of prep, Spring Training On-Deck, and All-Star Games.

One of the All-Star Games he was involved in was the 2013 Futures Game where he got to start in front of his future Home Crowd at Citifield. In the above photo he is pitching to current Red Sox shortstop Xander Bogaerts.

 2013 07 14 Noah Syndergaard

This is a tighter but blurry shot of Syndergaard on the mound. He gave up a single and recorded a strikeout during an inning of work.

Sources and Links
Baseball-ref
mlb.com
Baseball America

2008 Bowman Draft #BDPP94 Lou Marson - Phillies Spring Training Invitee

A few days ago the Phillies announce a few of their Non-Roster Spring Training Invitees. The names of the traditionally AAAA players included two familiar names. One was Hall of Fame offspring Tony Gwynn Jr, The other was our old friend Lou Marson.  

2008 Bowman Draft #BDPP94 Lou Marson

Marson got into a handful of games with the Phillies before being traded away in the first Cliff Lee deal.  Since then he has several unimpressive seasons with the Indians without eclipsing 300 plate appearances in any single campaign.

As mentioned above Lou Marson now finds himself on the fulcrum between AAA and the Majors sometimes referred to as AAAA, 4A or Quad-A. He has established he can play in the Majors if he is really needed, but he really doesn't have the skillset to hit/stay at that level. The Phillies have brought in Marson as depth behind Carlos Ruiz and the recently acquired Wil Nieves. Essentially Marson is here to replace the recently departed Steven Lerud.


2008 Bowman Draft Futures Game Prospects
2008 Bowman Draft contains 45 Futures Game prospect cards that run from #BDPP66 thru #BDP110. The Philies are represented by Marson, Carlos Carrasco(#BDPP66), Jason Donald(85), and Greg Golson(77). Other set notables include Andrew McCutchen (69), Dexter Fowler (76), Pablo Sandoval (84), and Elvis Andrus (89).

Future Games Prospects have been a part of  Bowman Draft since the collections inception in 2002. BDPP has contains Futures Game base or subset cards in most recent series. However that is not the case in 2013.  I am bummed that this year the Futures Game is not represented with base cards - fortunately for Future Games enthusiasts there are FG Relics in the set.  


2008 Futures Game

Team Phungo has been lucky enough to attend a couple of Futures Games. I registered some random thoughts on the 2008 edition hosted by the Yankees here. 


Sources
Phillies.com
Cardboard Connection
baseballamerica.com
MLB
baseball-ref
the Phillies Room

Amazing Race: Mr Nicky Getz, Chris Getz (2008 Bowman Draft Picks and Prospects #BDPP81)

Tonight we take a break from our playoff postings and take a look at the latest edition of "the Amazing Race". Last week we took a look at David DeJesus, the Husband of Kim DeJesus who is competing on the show. Kim's teammate is Nicky Getz wife of ballplayer Chris Getz   

2008 Bowman Draft Picks and Prospects #BDPP81

Each year the Bowman Draft Picks & Prospects set has a subset dedicated to the Futures Game.  Chris Getz was involved in the game played as part of the 2008 All-Star Festivities in New York's "old" Yankee Stadium during it's final season. The photo on this card is from that game.  Chris Getz started at second base in that game and went 0-2.

Chris Getz got to the majors with the White Sox later in the 2008 season. He has since been traded to the Royals, this season had a mediocre hitting year for the Kansas City ball club, but was important as a defensive replacement at second base.

More Reality TV on Cards 
Last weeks column on David DeJesus 
The Greatest 21 Days on Steve Smith
Survivor Jeff Kent  

Sources
baseball-ref.com
Baseball America

Snapshots - Henry Urrutia

I want to devote a thorough posting to the 2013 futures game but that may take some time.  Today the Orioles called up outfield prospect Henry Urrutia and we are devoting a short column to the young Cuban.

2013 07 14 Henry Urrutia @ the Futures Game in New York

Urritia went 0-3 (with a walk) in last weekends futures game. I think the O's have him on an accelerated pace so he may end up sticking with the playoff contender. Best of luck to Henry as he gets his first taste of major league play.  

 

Don't be afraid of the Future - 2013 edition

All-Star Future's Game that is.  Check out this photo of players involved in the 2006 edition of the game held in Pittsburgh.

Troy Tulowitzki, Cameron Maybin, Hunter Pence, Alex Gordon, Billy Butler, Nick Adenhart, Howie Kendrick, Ryan Braun.  (2006 07 09) 

First there is the sadness of seeing Nick Adenhart (#21 removing his cap) in the photo with the rest of the superstars.  You see all that talent standing around him and....well you just wonder.  

Braun, Tulo, and Pence went 1-2-3 in the 2007 Rookie of the Year voting.

The World Team that day featured future 2010 NL MVP Joey Votto. 
Gio Gonzalez and Carlos Carrasco were the Phillies reps in 2006.  Other players that took the field that day included Stephen Drew, Nolan Reimold, Neil Walker, Phil Hughes, Homer Bailey, CarGo, Yovani Gallardo, and Pablo Sandoval.   

Last Years Futures Game included Manny Machado, Jurickson Profar, Billy Hamilton, Wil Myers, Mike Olt, Nick Castellanos, Zack Wheeler and many others.  

This year the Futures Game will  be held at 2pm (edt) Sunday July 14 at the Mets home Citi Field and Team Phungo will be there!!! Tickets to the showcase can be found on Stubhub for as little as $6 for SRO. 

  
The 2013 Futures Game will air on ESPN2.

Don't be afraid of the Future...

All-Star Future's Game that is.  Just check out this photo of a few guys that were involved in the 2006 edition of the game which was held in Pittsburgh.

Troy Tulowitzki, Cameron Maybin, Hunter Pence, Alex Gordon, Billy Butler, Nick Adenhart, Howie Kendrick, Ryan Braun.  (2006 07 09) 

First there is the sadness of seeing Nick Adenhart (#21 removing his cap) in the photo with the rest of the superstars.  You see all that talent standing around him and....well you just wonder.  

Braun, Tulo, and Pence went 1-2-3 in the 2007 Rookie of the Year voting.


The World Team that day featured future 2010 NL MVP Joey Votto. 
Gio Gonzalez and Carlos Carrasco were the Phillies reps in 2006.  Other players that took the field that day included Stephen Drew, Nolan Reimold, Neil Walker, Phil Hughes, Homer Bailey, CarGo, Yovani Gallardo, and Pablo Sandoval.   
  
The host team Royals own Wil Myers will be one of the players to watch in the 2012 Futures Game.  The Orioles are sending Dylan Bundy and Manny Machado who are both highly rated prospects. Reds speedster Billy Hamilton is on the roster as well.  The Phils are sending two lower level prospects to the game Lisalverto Bonilla and Julio Rodriguez.  Both players are pitchers at AA Reading.


The 2012 Futures Game will air Sunday July 7 at 5p East on ESPN2.

Baseball America Futures Game coverage here.

Phungo Cards - Futures Game

2009 Phungo Black Frame Insert - Futures Game

I am sure most of us cannot afford to go to the All-Star game or the Home Run Derby, but there is one event that is part of All-Star weekend that a baseball fan of lesser means may be able to attend. That event is the Futures Game. I have been to two Futures games, 2006 in Pittsburgh and last year at Yankee Stadium. It is a great opportunity to see several players from the next generation of superstars all in one day.

It has only been three years since that 06 Futures game yet the list of notables that have emerged from that game is already pretty formidable: Gio Gonzalez, Yovani Gallardo, Alex Gordon, Josh Fields, Stephen Drew, Hunter Pence, Troy Tulowitzki, Phil Hughes, Joey Votto, Cameron Maybin, Pablo Sandoval, Yunel Escobar, Ryan Braun and sadly the late Nick Adenhart.

For a Card Bloggers view of the 2009 Futures Game in St Louis click here to find out how the squad over at Autograph Cards made out this past weekend.

2008 07 13 - 2008 All-Star Futures Game

The World team captured the 2008 All-Star Futures game by a 3-0 score. Nine pitchers combined to shutout the USA Squad on only 3 hits. Che-Hsuan Lin, a Low-A Bosox prospect, from Taiwan captured the MVP trophy for the game by collecting two hits including a 2-run Homer into the left field seats. A's farmhand Henry Rodriguez (Hi-A) also excited the crowd by firing several pitches in the Hi 90s and topping out with a handful at 100 MPH.

Plus - The oft-questioned Phils minor league system, sent 4 prospects to the futures game. Carlos Carrasco playing in his third futures game earned the W for the world team pitching a scoreless first where he struck out 2 and got a broken bat grounder to retire all three batters he faced. One of the three US hits was by Jason Donald.

The game was attended by an estimated 20,000. This was so few that we were able to sit in section 7 behind home plate.

Minus - Of course I paid the full price of $75 for my tickets instead of the $20 I could have easily gotten away with.

Hopefully the performance of Team USA is not indicative of what they will do in Beijing. According to the NY Daily News only two of the world players were expected to represent their native countries in the Olympic games.

Shenanigans - According to Topps Ryan Howard is an "Own the Game" caliber player, unfortunately he does not own enough of it to make the All-Star team. This is despite the fact that he leads the league in both Homers and RBIs. To find the last RBI/HR leader at the break to be a non-star you have to go clear back to Hank Sauer in 1948.

BlogBlogBlog - Baseball America is always a good place for Futures Game Coverage.

BlahBlahBlah - Apparently Jim Leyritz is bent out of shape about not being formally invited to participate in All-Star festivities. Not sure if DUI related manslaughter charges have anything to do with the Yankees oversight.

Off the Diamond - Team Phungo stuck around for the first inning of the celebrity softball game. Wade Boggs Homered in the first AB for the AL/Yankees squad.

This was my third and most likely final trip to Yankee Stadium. I am not a Yankees fan and did not go to enough games for the stadium to have any particular memories for me, but I did enjoy the handful of trips I made to the House that Ruth Built.

Scoop - According to a Phungo source Pat Gillick was spotted at the Futures Game sitting w/ Yankees GM Brian Cashman.

Useless Info - Spotted hungry autograph hounds outside of the Inter-continental @ 48th & Lexington.

On Deck - Next game on the team Phungo slate is a Phillies road game @ DC scheduled for 7/31, but I would think we will try and squeeze in a game or two between now and then.

2008 06 29 Phillies @ Rangers

Phils lose sixth series in a row giving them a 5-13 record over the last 18 games. 5-13 is how the team has started the last couple of seasons. They have absorbed those bad stretches and had relatively decent years. Now we will have to find out how they recover from having a crummy stretch in the middle of the season.

There has been talk of skipping Brett Myers start this week. I don't think you can really skip his turn- Phils play 13 days in a row starting Tuesday (7/1) and running through the AS break. You could flip Hamels and Myers. This would mean that Hamels would get 3 starts between now and the break, and Myers would only get two. That is a change worth making. Also it would break up the starts by back to back lefthanders in the rotation, which is potentially beneficial.

Plus - Phils done with Interleague play.

Minus - Phils still struggle to score runs.

Shenanigans - How comes a pitcher gets credit for a complete game if he is on the losing side of a game and pitches 8 innings, but he cannot get a no-hitter if he doesn't give up any hits in that loss. Seems like a contradiction to me.

Meh - Am I having having hallucinations or was UEFA cup Soccer being covered by ABC??

Around the League - The Rosters for the Futures Game have been announced. Several Phillies made the Roster including Carlos Carrasco, Lou Marson, Jason Donald, and Greg Golson. Carrasco will play for the World team, The rest of the players will be featured on the US team.

Off the Diamond - Locally was at the improved Victory Brew Pub this weekend. Much Bigger, Good Grub, Great Beer.

On Deck - Los Bravos in Atlanta again. Time to get back on the right track against some NL East Foes.