2022 Futures Game

The 2022 Futures Game was played on July 16th at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, CA, the site of the 2022 All-Star Game. It was the 23rd edition of the event. It was played as a seven-inning game between prospects from American League and National League teams, with the American League squad coming out on top, 6-4.

Former Los Angeles Dodgers catcher and long-time Los Angeles Angels manager Mike Scioscia managed the NL team, assisted by coaches Alfredo Griffin, Dan Haren, Shawn Green, Eric Davis and Matt Tuiasosopo.

Long-time shortstop Jimmy Rollins was the AL manager, assisted by coaches Jerry Manuel, Edwin Jackson, Adrian Beltre, Gary Matthews Jr., Ryan Newman and Dan Otero.

The game was originally scheduled for July 17th but was moved forward by a day in order not to conflict with the 2022 Amateur Draft, also held on the 17th. Shea Langeliers, a catcher in the Oakland Athletics, won the Larry Doby Award as the game's MVP. Langeliers homered and threw out a baserunner attempting to steal third base. However, the turning point of the game came in the 3rd inning, when Jasson Dominguez and Matt Wallner both hit two-run homers off Kyle Harrison to turn a 3-1 deficit into a 5-3 lead.

Bobby Miller started the game for the National League but walked the first batter he faced, Gunnar Henderson, then sent him to third base on a wild pitch. He struck out Dominguez for the first out, but allowed a single to Dustin Harris for the game's first run, before striking out Anthony Volpe and Wallner. Taj Bradley got the starting assignment for the AL, but he was the beneficiary of Langeliers' great throw, as he gave up a lead-off double to Corbin Carroll then after one out walked Francisco Álvarez. Corbin then took off for third on the front end of an attempted double steal, but the throw nailed him, and Bradley ended the inning by getting Jordan Walker to fly out to center.

The bottom of the 2nd proved to be eventful. With Hunter Brown now on the mound for the AL, Miguel Vargas drew a lead-off walk and Zac Veen followed with a single. Brown retired the next two batters, but Diego Cartaya lifted a fly ball to deep center which fell out of Dominguez's glove for a two-base error on which both runners scored. Carroll then drew a walk, and Robert Hassell III singled to make it 3-1 for the NL. Brown gave way to Yosver Zulueta, who ended the inning by getting Álvarez to ground out to second base.

The 3-1 lead was short-lived as the AL team immediately went to work against the NL's third pitcher, Kyle Harrison (Eury Pérez had worked a perfect top of the 2nd in relief of Miller). Harrison struck out Langeliers to start things off, but Henderson reached on a throwing error by SS Masyn Winn. Winn had shown his tremendous arm by throwing out Yainer Díaz on a throw clocked at 100 mph, but he was obviously not always on target. In any case Dominguez atoned for his previous error with a long homer to center field, measured at 415 feet, that tied the game at 3. After a walk to Harris and a strikeout of Volpe, Harrison was taken deep again, this time by Wallner, on a ball that was crushed with an exit velocity of 115 mph, according to Statcast, for a 5-3 lead. Jared Shuster got the final out of the inning but in the 4th, gave up Langeliers' homer. Ironically the two were battery-mates the year before with the Mississippi Braves, when Langeliers was still a top prospect in the Atlanta Braves system.

The remainder of the game was more quiet. Veen did steal two bases after a two-out single in the bottom of the 3rd, but was stranded. Jack Leiter pitcher a 1-2-3 bottom of the 4th for the AL, and was followed by Ricky Tiedemann who did likewise in the bottom of the 5th, with both needing just 9 pitches. In the 6th, Emerson Hancock made it ten straight outs by AL pitchers when he struck out the side. The NL finally stirred again in the bottom of the 7th, against Wilmer Flores. He made it eleven straight outs when he retired Logan O'Hoppe on a ground ball, but Pete Crow-Armstrong broke the streak with a double. Flores was then called for a balk and Joey Wiemer scored Crow-Armstrong on a sacrifice fly to right, as RF Denzel Clarke deprived him of extra bases by making the catch while running into the fence. The run cut the lead to 6-4. Ken Waldichuk was then brought in to record the last out, which he did by getting Jackson Chourio to fly out, again to Clarke in RF, on a more routine play this time.

Rosters

American League

• P: Taj Bradley, Hunter Brown, Ky Bush, Wilmer Flores, Emerson Hancock, Jack Leiter, Alec Marsh, Ricky Tiedemann, Ken Waldichuk, Yosver Zulueta
• C: Yainer Díaz, Dillon Dingler, Shea Langeliers
• IF: Gunnar Henderson, Curtis Mead, Jhonkensy Noel, Ceddanne Rafaela, Spencer Steer, Anthony Volpe
• OF: Denzel Clarke, Oscar Colás, Jasson Dominguez, Dustin Harris, George Valera, Matt Wallner

National League

• P: Andrew Abbott, Mike Burrows, José Ferrer, Kyle Harrison, Antoine Kelly, Bobby Miller, Erik Miller, Eury Pérez, Jared Shuster
• C: Francisco Álvarez, Diego Cartaya, Logan O'Hoppe
• IF: Darren Baker, Elly De La Cruz, Jordan Lawlar, Miguel Vargas, Mark Vientos, Jordan Walker, Masyn Winn
• OF: Corbin Carroll, Jackson Chourio, Pete Crow-Armstrong, Robert Hassell III, Zac Veen, Joey Wiemer

Further Reading

• Nick Aguliera and Pat James: "How each team's prospects fared in Futures Game", mlb.com, July 17, 2022. [1]
• Associated Press: "Scioscia, Rollins to manage at All-Star Futures Game", Yahoo! News, June 8, 2022. [2]
• Ronald Blum (Associated Press): "Langeliers wins Futures MVP; HR, nails runner, AL wins 6-4", Yahoo! News, July 17, 2022. [3]
• Jim Callis, Jonathan Mayo and Sam Dykstra: "Futures Game scouting reports for each team", mlb.com, July 8, 2022. [4]
• Sam Dykstra: "The coolest moments of the 2022 Futures Game", mlb.com, July 17, 2022. [5]

Related Sites

• Boxscore
• Rosters