Collier and Baldwin hit 400-foot homers in NL’s 6-1 Futures Game win over AL
AP Baseball Writers
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Cincinnati’s Cam Collier and Atlanta’s Drake Baldwin hit 400-foot solo home runs as the National League beat the American 6-1 Saturday in the All-Star Futures Game featuring top prospects.
Arizona’s Druw Jones, like Collier the son of a former major leaguer, drew a bases-loaded walk after the NL opened the fourth inning with three consecutive singles to load the bases against Chicago White Sox lefty Noah Schultz. Collier struck out and Aiden Miller was hit by a pitch, forcing in another run.
Baldwin, a catcher serving as the designated hitter and batting ninth, made it 4-0 with a sacrifice fly on the first pitch from Houston right-hander A.J. Blubaugh
Collier, the game’s MVP, led off the third inning with a 409-foot homer into the bullpen in right-center field for the game’s first run. It came off loser Caden Dana, a Los Angeles Angels right-hander.
“My mom, dad, two sisters are all here. It was definitely something cool to do in front of them and be able to look in the stands as I ran the bases. It was something I’ll never forget,” Collier said. “Saw them in the second deck. They were going crazy. It was cool.”
The bat Collier used is going to baseball’s Hall of Fame.
Baldwin’s sixth-inning drive went 411 feet into the left-center bullpen.
Cleveland’s Jaison Chourio had an RBI single for the AL, which had five hits. Boston’s Kyle Teel, the 14th overall pick in last July’s draft, had a pair of doubles.
Miami right-hander Noble Meyer struck out two and walked one in a scoreless inning for the win.
Big league dads
The 19-year-old Collier’s dad, Lou, played for five big league teams from 1997-2004 and was the U.S. first base coach in last year’s World Baseball Classic. The younger Collier was the 18th overall pick in the 2022 draft and is at High-A Dayton.
“It’s definitely like a cheat code. He’s someone I can always ask about any scenario I’m going through professionally because he’s done it at the highest level,” Collier said. “Being able to have him in my corner and have the relationship … definitely something great to have in my back pocket.’”
Philadelphia’s Justin Crawford and Jones, outfielders who were also first-round draft picks out of high school two years ago, are 20-year-old sons of All-Stars who won Gold Gloves and Silver Sluggers.
Crawford led off his second Futures Game and was 1 for 3 with a hard single to left that knocked the glove off the hand of leaping third baseman Colson Montgomery. Crawford also had a nice lunging catch of Spencer Jones’ sinking liner to left that ended the first inning.
Crawford got a promotion in the Philadelphia Phillies organization while he was in Texas as part of MLB’s All-Star weekend. After hitting .301 with six homers, 35 RBIs and 27 stolen bases in 70 games this season for Class A Jersey City, he is headed to Double-A Reading.
“When I was younger, I definitely felt pressure like that. But then I kind of got older and decided to grow into myself,” said Crawford, a son of four-time All-Star Carl Crawford. “That’s something where it kind of just fades away. … It’s kind of just go out there and play my game and just keep my head down.”
Jones was the second overall pick by Arizona and is hitting .275 with five homers and 41 RBIs in 70 games for Low A Visalia.
The son of five-time All-Star and 10-time Gold Glove winner Andruw Jones was plagued by injuries after being drafted. Druw Jones tore the labrum in his shoulder in his first batting practice with Visalia, then was sidelined last season by a right quadriceps injury and hurt a hamstring during rehab.
“You’ve got to be mentally strong and just be able to come to the field every day and just have the same mentality that you’re going to go out there and you’re going to do best,” Druw Jones said.
Crews’ champion teammate
Dylan Crews, a teammate of Paul Skenes on LSU’s NCAA champions last year, was 0 for 3 with three flyouts and was hit by a pitch.
Crews was taken by Washington with the second pick in the amateur draft after Skenes went first to Pittsburgh. The 22-year-old outfielder, promoted to Triple-A in mid-June, hasn’t had much contact during the season with Skenes, who made his big league debut May 11 and will start Tuesday’s All-Star Game. Skenes is 6-0 with a 1.90 ERA in 11 starts.
“He’s tearing it up and I’m just really happy for him,” Crews said. “He’s a generational player.”
In Seager’s clubhouse
While Montgomery played third base for the AL squad, he is a 6-foot-3 shortstop and top prospect for the White Sox. He is a right-handed fielder who bats left-handed, so people often draw comparisons to two-time World Series MVP Corey Seager.
“It’s very good to kind of have like a baseline, a guideline of kind of what to look for and look forward to,” Montgomery said. “He’s doing it right. I mean, he’s proved a lot people wrong playing shortstop and things like that for being a bigger guy. So it’s really cool to be compared to him.”
As the home team, the AL were in the Texas Rangers clubhouse, though Montgomery was in a different row from Seager’s locker.
Take me out to the ballpark
The announced attendance for the All-Star Saturday activities inside Globe Life Field was 33,912.
After the Futures Game, eight prospects competed in a hitting skills contest before the celebrity softball game wrapped up the long day.
Tip of the cap, tap on the head
Adrián Beltré, managing the AL squad a week before being inducted into baseball’s Hall of Fame, was tipping his cap to fans while being recognized at the start of the second inning when he got a tap on the head.
It came from no other than Elvis Andrus.
Beltré never liked his head being touched, and when the two played on the left side of the Texas Rangers infield together, Andrus was often like the annoying little brother who often did it because of that.
Andrus, one of the AL coaches, scurried off the dugout steps after tapping the head of Beltré, who smiled and knew without even looking who did it.
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