Yankees prospects named to Futures Game will get fans absolutely jacked up

Hudson Valley Renegade Anthony Volpe before Tuesday's game versus Jersey Shore on August 10, 2021.Hudson Valley Renegades Anthony Volpe
Hudson Valley Renegade Anthony Volpe before Tuesday's game versus Jersey Shore on August 10, 2021.Hudson Valley Renegades Anthony Volpe

The 2022 Futures Game at Dodger Stadium on Saturday, July 16 at 7 p.m. ET will feature three New York Yankees prospects. Rejoice!

You can probably guess two of them. Yup, Jasson Dominguez will be making his second straight appearance in the annual event and will be joined by Yankees No. 1 prospect (and No. 8 overall in MLB) Anthony Volpe, who’s currently manning shortstop for the Double-A Somerset Patriots.

After a slow start to the year, Volpe caught fire in the month of June and is now slashing .244/.342/.444 with 48 runs scored, 11 homers, 41 RBI and 33 stolen bases in 70 games. He had 33 total stolen bases across 109 games in 2021 (between Single-A and High-A).

As for Dominguez, he also fell victim to a laggy April and May, but has recently rebounded to hit .257/.368/.424 with 51 runs scored, 8 home runs, 33 RBI and 16 stolen bases in 69 games with Single-A Tampa. Fans would like to see more power, but it’ll come around. He’s only 19 years old.

Unfair expectations have been placed on both players, but the two youngsters are navigating the waters and working through it.

And an appearance in the 2022 Futures Game to represent the best young talent in the sport is an appropriate accomplishment, regardless of their numbers on paper so far this year.

Yankees prospects Anthony Volpe, Jasson Dominguez and Ken Waldichuk named to 2022 Futures Game

And last but not least, the best pitcher in the Yankees farm system at the moment, Ken Waldichuk, will join Volpe and Dominguez. The only prospects ranked ahead of Waldichuk, per MLB.com, are Volpe, Dominguez, Oswald Peraza and Austin Wells.

Waldichuk’s ascension was so impressive that he couldn’t be excluded from this year’s festivities. He debuted in the Rookie League after being drafted in 2019, played in 10 games, lost all of 2020 due to the pandemic, and is now dominating Triple-A at this very moment.

He spent seven games at High-A Hudson Valley last year before getting the bump to Double-A, then only needed six games at Double-A this year before getting the nod to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

In eight starts at the highest level of the minors, the left-hander is 2-2 with a 2.52 ERA, 1.14 WHIP and 55 strikeouts across 39.1 innings. On the year, he owns a 1.99 ERA, 1.04 WHIP and 101 strikeouts in 14 starts (68 innings), if you include his Double-A numbers.

Yankees fans will likely be seeing him in the Bronx before anyone else, so you might want to tune in this Saturday to see what the future of the organization is probably going to look like.

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