Daily Notes: A Maybe Useful Preview of Today’s Futures Game
Table of Contents
Here’s the table of contents for today’s edition of the Daily Notes.
1. A Maybe Useful Preview of Today’s Futures Game
2. Today’s MLB.TV Free Game
3. Today’s Complete Schedule
A Maybe Useful Preview of Today’s Futures Game
The Purpose of This Post
The purpose of this post is to alert the reader to how the Futures Game — which features (more or less) the best prospects from the United States playing against (more or less) the best prospects born abroad — is scheduled for today (Sunday) at 2pm ET.
Nerd-Type Stats for Every Prospect
The author, for the better enjoyment of the readership, has utilized the custom-leaderboard utility at the present site to craft a full leaderboard featuring every player on either Futures Game roster. Click this hyperlinked text to view the batting statistics (sorted by weighted runs above average), and this other hyperlinked text for all relevant pitching stats (sorted by FIP).
Leaderboard: Top Futures Game Hitters
Here are the top-10 hitters, by weighted runs above average, likely to appear in today’s Futures Game.
| Name | Team | Age | PA | AVG | OBP | SLG | wOBA | wRC+ | wRAA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| George Springer | Astros | 23 | 392 | .315 | .418 | .624 | .450 | 186 | 40.1 |
| Garin Cecchini | Red Sox | 22 | 348 | .353 | .468 | .535 | .456 | 180 | 34.3 |
| Byron Buxton | Twins | 19 | 386 | .333 | .418 | .533 | .429 | 165 | 30.5 |
| Miguel Sano | Twins | 20 | 348 | .293 | .388 | .609 | .436 | 174 | 29.3 |
| Maikel Franco | Phillies | 20 | 368 | .321 | .359 | .598 | .422 | 165 | 27.5 |
| Ji-Man Choi | Mariners | 22 | 326 | .301 | .396 | .570 | .419 | 159 | 24.5 |
| Joc Pederson | Dodgers | 21 | 353 | .296 | .386 | .516 | .407 | 161 | 23.5 |
| Henry Urrutia | Orioles | 26 | 288 | .365 | .427 | .531 | .429 | 165 | 22.5 |
| Xander Bogaerts | Red Sox | 20 | 378 | .294 | .390 | .489 | .396 | 143 | 19.5 |
| Carlos Correa | Astros | 18 | 324 | .324 | .421 | .455 | .404 | 148 | 19.1 |
Leaderboard: Top Futures Game Pitchers
Here are the top-10 pitchers, by Fielding Independent Pitching, likely to appear in today’s Futures Game.
| Name | Team | Age | G | GS | IP | K/9 | BB/9 | HR/9 | BABIP | ERA | FIP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rafael Montero | Mets | 22 | 18 | 18 | 99.2 | 9.12 | 1.81 | 0.36 | .312 | 3.07 | 2.30 |
| Jose De Paula | Yankees | 22 | 16 | 15 | 79.0 | 12.30 | 3.19 | 0.57 | .316 | 3.65 | 2.54 |
| Noah Syndergaard | Mets | 20 | 16 | 16 | 83.2 | 9.68 | 2.15 | 0.54 | .335 | 2.69 | 2.58 |
| Kyle Crick | Giants | 20 | 7 | 7 | 29.2 | 13.35 | 5.76 | 0.30 | .328 | 1.21 | 2.59 |
| C.C. Lee | Indians | 26 | 16 | 0 | 16.1 | 13.78 | 4.41 | 0.55 | .200 | 2.76 | 2.59 |
| Archie Bradley | D-backs | 20 | 18 | 18 | 104.2 | 9.89 | 3.78 | 0.34 | .298 | 2.15 | 2.90 |
| Yordano Ventura | Royals | 22 | 18 | 17 | 92.1 | 10.72 | 3.61 | 0.49 | .300 | 3.41 | 2.92 |
| Taijuan Walker | Mariners | 20 | 17 | 17 | 100.0 | 10.08 | 3.15 | 0.63 | .255 | 2.16 | 3.10 |
| Anthony Ranaudo | Red Sox | 23 | 16 | 16 | 91.0 | 9.30 | 3.16 | 0.59 | .251 | 2.67 | 3.15 |
| Miguel Almonte | Royals | 20 | 17 | 17 | 87.2 | 8.93 | 2.98 | 0.51 | .318 | 3.70 | 3.15 |
Further, Probably Better, Reading
Recently, in these pages, actual prospect analyst Marc Hulet wrote posts both on the hitting and also the pitching prospects likely to appear in the Futures Games.
Broadcast Information
Provided MLB.com’s Jonathan Mayo isn’t lying, the Futures Game will be available both on MLB.com and ESPN2.
Today’s MLB.TV Free Game
Los Angeles AL at Seattle | 16:10 ET
Joe Blanton (108.1 IP, 91 xFIP-, 0.3 WAR) faces Hisashi Iwakuma (124.1 IP, 82 xFIP-, 2.0 WAR). Of note regarding Seattle and that club’s above-average Team NERD score: the Mariners presently have recorded the third-highest home-run total (114) in the majors and highest park-adjusted home-run rate in the league (albeit, using park factors which won’t yet reflect their home stadium’s offseason redesign). The club’s top home-run hitters are as follows: Raul Ibanez (24), Kyle Seager (15), Kendrys Morales (14). Young second-baseman Nick Franklin, promoted in late May, has hit six in 165 plate appearances.
Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Seattle Radio, Perhaps.
Today’s Complete Schedule
Here’s the complete schedule for all of today’s games, with our very proprietary watchability (NERD) scores for each one. Pitching probables and game times aggregated from MLB.com and RotoWire. The average NERD Game Score for today is 5.5.
Note: the following table is entirely sortable.
| Away | SP | Tm. | Gm. | Tm. | SP | Home | Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| James Shields | KC | 6 | 6 | 5 | 7 | 4 | CLE | Ubaldo Jimenez | 13:05 |
| Kyle Gibson* | MIN | 8 | 3 | 6 | 3 | 7 | NYA | CC Sabathia | 13:05 |
| Martin Perez | TEX | 8 | 3 | 7 | 7 | 7 | DET | Justin Verlander | 13:08 |
| Taylor Jordan* | WAS | 7 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 6 | MIA | Hen. Alvarez* | 13:10 |
| Jose Quintana | CHA | 5 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 8 | PHI | Cole Hamels | 13:35 |
| Tony Cingrani | CIN | 8 | 3 | 7 | 7 | 8 | ATL | Julio Teheran | 13:35 |
| Dillon Gee | NYN | 5 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 9 | PIT | Gerrit Cole | 13:35 |
| Josh Johnson | TOR | 7 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 3 | BAL | Scott Feldman | 13:35 |
| Erik Bedard | HOU | 0 | 2 | 3 | 10 | 4 | TB | Chris Archer | 13:40 |
| Bran. Workman* | BOS | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | OAK | Bartolo Colon | 16:05 |
| Joe Blanton | LAA | 7 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 7 | SEA | Hisashi Iwakuma | 16:10 |
| Jhoulys Chacin | COL | 4 | 8 | 5 | 2 | 6 | LAN | Ricky Nolasco | 16:10 |
| Wily Peralta | MIL | 5 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 3 | AZ | Ian Kennedy | 16:10 |
| Barry Zito | SF | 1 | 6 | 3 | 6 | 4 | SD | Eric Stults | 16:10 |
| Ad. Wainwright | STL | 9 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 4 | CHN | Travis Wood | 20:05 |
To learn how Pitcher and Team NERD Scores are calculated, click here.
To learn how Game NERD Scores are calculated, click here.
* = Fewer than 20 IP, NERD at discretion of very handsome author.
Carson Cistulli has published a book of aphorisms called Spirited Ejaculations of a New Enthusiast.
Frankly, I try to make sure every one of my prospects was born a broad.
That’s likely why you aren’t a major league GM.
I don’t think you got the joke.
And then had the operation later?