PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Tampa Bay Rays prospect Nathan Flewelling hit a two-run home run and earned MVP honors, and the American League needed only five hits to beat the National League 6-1 on Sunday in the All-Star Futures Game.
The 19-year-old Flewelling is rated the second-best prospect in Tampa Bay’s organization and was a third-round pick in the 2024 amateur draft. Flewelling and Theo Gillen — Tampa Bay’s top-rated prospect — combined for three RBIs in the seven-inning game that included most of minor-league baseball’s best players.
Flewelling catches for Class-A Bowling Green and the 20-year-old Gillen is an outfielder for Double-A Montgomery.
Phillies minor leaguer Gage Wood earned the start and allowed one run and threw 11 pitches in his one inning of work. Leo De Vries, a 19-year-old Athletics shortstop ranked as the No. 2 prospect by MLB.com, hit a leadoff single and stole second and third and scored on a groundout by Boston’s Franklin Arias. Wood threw nine strikes and hit 97 mph on his fastest pitch.
Former Phillies outfielder and National League Futures manager Shane Victorino made the call to tell Wood he would start the game.
“I hope it was a moment that he’ll never forget, other than the next call hopefully to the big leagues soon enough,” Victorino said. “It’s always an honor to hand the ball to someone obviously that’s a hometown or home-team kid and get that opportunity hopefully someday to pitch for that team.”
The Phillies drafted Wood in the first round (26th overall) last season and signed him for $3 million. He made eight starts this season for Class-A Clearwater and eight for Double-A Reading. Wood has a 3.44 ERA and 79 strikeouts in 55 innings total this season.
The NL tied the game at 1-1 in the third on a Jesús Made RBI groundout against Toronto’s Nolan Perry. Made is a 19-year-old Milwaukee Brewers infielder who is rated MLB.com’s top prospect.
Wood’s teammate and Reading closer Wen-Hui Pan allowed Flewelling’s two-run shot into the second row of the right-field seats in the sixth. Flewelling was the third Rays player to ever win Futures MVP.
Former Phillies are the managers
Larry Bowa managed the American League squad on the other side of Victorino. Victorino was the center fielder on the 2008 World Series champion Phillies and Bowa the starting shortstop on the 1980 World Series winners — the only two World Series championship teams in franchise history.
The 80-year-old Bowa, a senior adviser to baseball operations for the Phillies, is still a fixture at games and usually can be spotted hitting grounders during infield practice.
Bowa was a five-time NL All-Star and won a pair of Gold Gloves and later managed the San Diego Padres and was the 2001 NL Manager of the Year with the Phillies.
“I’ve been very fortunate, not only with health and the good man upstairs, but the organization” has been great, Bowa said. “We’ve had three or four managers; they all tell me to come down to spring training. (Owner) John Middleton’s been great. The fact they’re letting me do this, I mean without the help of those guys, I couldn’t suit up the way I’m doing right now.”
By the numbers
Among past Futures Games players, 86.8% have gone on to play in at least one major league game, while 259 total players (21.3%) have been selected to play in at least one major-league All-Star Game.
Twenty-five of the players that appeared in last season’s game in Atlanta have played in the big leagues this season.
___
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
