Futures Game offers peek at next wave of fantasy stars

SAN DIEGO – The All-Star break gives fantasy owners a chance to do something they rarely get to during the regular season: relax.

For four days, there’s nothing they can do about their place in the standings or any roster moves they can make.

Feels pretty good, doesn’t it?

On second thought, there’s always an opportunity to do extra research while your opponents are resting on their laurels.

That’s why the All-Star Futures Game is such a great event for baseball fans — and fantasy owners in particular.

For me, the highlight of All-Star week is seeing so many future stars getting their first real exposure on a national stage. We’ve read their names and scouting reports, but there’s just something about seeing them live and watching them compete against each other.

A year ago, Kyle Schwarber of the Chicago Cubs won MVP honors at the Futures Game in Cincinnati. Later that week, he was up with Chicago to stay as an integral part of its offense, hitting 15 home runs in the second half and five more in the playoffs.

A year ago, first-base prospect Josh Bell hit a two-run homer in the Futures Game. Just this last week, he made his major league debut with the Pittsburgh Pirates. On Saturday, he launched a pinch-hit grand slam deep into the right-field stands at PNC Park in a rout of the first-place Cubs.

Sometimes, the only thing a young player needs is a chance to prove he deserves to be in the majors. But like several of the prospects we’ve seen only briefly this year, Bell is headed back to the minors because there’s no room for him to play regularly.

However, we could see several of the participants in this year’s Futures Game get their chance in the second half of the season:

• SS-3B Alex Bregman, Houston Astros: Bregman, 22, could be the player most likely to make a Schwarber-like impact in 2016.

In the Futures Game, he went 3-for-5 with a triple, double and single.

Though his development seemed to stall toward the end of 2015, Bregman added 20 pounds to his frame in the offseason and worked on changing his approach at the plate.

“I’ve made a conscious effort to try and drive the baseball a lot more. It was just a mentality change,” he says. “In college, you’re taught to hit the ball on the ground and on the line. In professional baseball, they want me to hit the ball in the air more.”

He has risen quickly through the Astros farm system and shown the versatility to play whatever position is needed. In the majors, that could be third base — since the Astros already have Carlos Correa at short.

Bregman played some third at Class AA Corpus Christi (Texas) and was hitting .297/.415/.559 with 14 homers when he was promoted to Class AAA Fresno at the end of June.

Back at shortstop to ease the transition, Bregman has hit even better against the higher-level competition: .389 with five homers in 36 at-bats.

“With the Astros, we shift so much, half the time I’m still playing shortstop,” he says. “It’s been a smooth transition so far. I’ve enjoyed every bit of it.”

• 2B Yoan Moncada, Boston Red Sox: Moncada’s two-run homer in the top of the eighth inning plated the go-ahead run in the World team’s 11-3 victory against the U.S. squad.

The switch-hitting Cuban defector who signed a $31 million contract with the Red Sox as a 19-year-old international free agent, hit .278 and stole 49 bases in 52 attempts at Low-A Greenville (S.C.) last year in his first pro season.

This year, his game has become more well-rounded as he’s hit .312/.415/.532, playing the last 16 games at Class AA Portland (Maine).

With just nine homers, the chiseled 6-2, 205-pound Moncada, now 21, hasn’t yet even displayed the kind of power many scouts believe he will have.

• OF Andrew Benintendi, Boston Red Sox: Benintendi has the talent to make the jump from Class AA to the majors, at least in the eyes of his general manager. Dave Dombrowski has said he isn’t opposed to promoting the club’s first-round pick (No. 7 overall) in the 2015 draft if the right situation presents itself.

“I’d be lying if I said I haven’t thought about it,” Benintendi says. “But I trust those guys who make those decisions, trust the process, and whatever happens, happens.”

Beintendi, 22, packs a lot of punch in his 5-10, 180-pound frame. He hit .341 in 34 games at high Class A Salem (Va.), and after a slow start at Portland he’s raking again.

“The big thing I noticed from high-A to Double-A is that when you have an advantage count as a hitter, you’re not going to get as many fastballs. Adjusting to the 2-0 changeup, that 3-1 off-speed pitch — things like that. I think my swing can stay the same; I just was getting myself out.”

• SP Alex Reyes, St. Louis Cardinals: The most physically talented pitcher — maybe overall player — in this year’s Futures Game, Reyes displayed a fastball that ventured into the triple digits on several occasions.

The World team's starter struck out the side in the first inning and added another K in the second before he was removed after 38 pitches.

However, the two hits he allowed were scalded. Bregman hit a 98 mph fastball to right-center for his triple, and DH Ryon Healy (Oakland Athletics) ripped a 100 mph fastball down the line in left for a double.

In 41 1/3 innings at Class AAA Memphis, Reyes has struck out 61 batters (13.3 per nine innings). However, he’s also walked 20 (4.4 BB/9) … and that’s why he’s not quite ready for a promotion to the majors.

“I feel like I’ve been making good strides (with control),” he said. “My misses haven’t been as bad as they were a long time ago. The pitches are closer to their spots. I’m happy where I’m at right now.”

Cardinals GM John Mozeliak has said Reyes could be a bullpen option this season, similar to what the team did with Carlos Martinez, another hard-throwing but occasionally wild young prospect.

The one thing that has held Reyes back was a 50-game suspension he served at the beginning of the season for marijuana use. “The situation I put myself in wasn’t a good one, but I was able to pitch the whole time, so I don’t think it hurt my development at all,” he says.

• SP Joe Musgrove, Houston Astros: The 6-5 right-hander zoomed up prospect watch lists when he posted a 0.34 ERA in 26 1/3 innings to start the season at Class AA Corpus Christi. He’s put up more pedestrian numbers after being promoted to Class AAA Fresno and the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League, but his rapid rise to become the U.S. team’s starter in the Futures Game seems to justify the results.

He pitched a scoreless first inning and left after getting three ground-ball outs. He doesn’t strike out a ton of hitters, but he has excellent control.

“I just compete, man,” says Musgrove, 23. “A lot of the guys like playing behind me. I’ve got a good pace, and I give it everything I have.”

That’s a quality any team could use, especially one fighting for a playoff spot.

“Everyone thinks about it every day when you get this close,” he says.