The Pittsburgh Pirates are sending two of their top prospects to the MLB Futures game, which will be held on Sunday, July 15th at Nationals Park. As part of the All-Star weekend, some of the best prospects in baseball meet during the Futures Game two days prior to the All-Star game. Mitch Keller and Ke’Bryan Hayes will play for the U.S. team against the World roster.
Keller was recently promoted to Indianapolis after posting a 2.72 ERA in 14 starts and 86 innings in Altoona. He had 76 strikeouts, a .208 BAA and a 1.12 WHIP. He has had two rough starts in Triple-A so far, though he did pick up ten strikeouts in his last outing.
The 21-year-old Hayes is hitting .290/.350/.452 in 71 games for the Altoona Curve this year and is considered one best defensive third basemen in the minors. Last year he won the Gold Glove for third base, given out to just one player at each position across the minors.
The Pirates sent Luis Escobar to last year’s Futures game. In 2016, Austin Meadows and Dovydas Neverauskas were the representatives. In 2015, it was Josh Bell and Elias Diaz. Gregory Polanco, Jameson Taillon, Gerrit Cole and Starling Marte also participated in the game during their minor league career.
The Pirates also announced that West Virginia pitching coach Joel Hanrahan will be the bullpen coach for the U.S. squad.
