National League blanks American League in All-Star Futures Game
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2023 All-Star Game in Seattle
Seattle’s T-Mobile Park is the focus of the baseball world this week as MLB’s top players gather for the 2023 All-Star Game. The TNT sports staff brings you all the action.
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Miami prospect Nasim Nunez roped an opposite-field, bases-clearing double in the sixth inning, and the National League coasted to a victory in Saturday’s All-Star Futures Game at T-Mobile Park.
The NL blanked the AL, 5-0, using Nunez’s clutch heroics and the combined dominance of its pitching.
T-Mobile Park hosted the 24th playing of the contest on a beautiful, sunny Saturday in Seattle, where 42,755 spectators packed the park for a glimpse of the future of MLB.
Fifty players made up rosters – 25 from each league – for a game that included 28 of MLB’s Top 100 prospects. It was coached by some of baseball’s more-notable names – like Adrian Beltre, Felix Hernandez, and Jay Buhner – and managed by former Mariners Harold Reynolds (AL) and Raul Ibanez (NL).
Nunez’s three-RBI double more than doubled the National League’s lead, once clinging to the other pair of runs plated in the second inning.
“Wow,” Nunez said as his postgame presser began, the winner of Saturday’s Larry Doby Most Valuable Player Award. “Last year, I really wanted to come here, but I didn’t get selected. This year, I said I’m not going to focus on it. I’m just going to focus on my game.”
One of the minor league’s most dangerous base-stealers and premier defenders, Nunez helped win the game with his bat: “It’s an honor. It’s something I worked for, and I enjoyed every moment.”
As All-Star Weekend in Seattle continued, Milwaukee catching prospect Jeferson Quero drove home the Futures Game’s first run – a second-inning ground ball through the left infield that plated Reds prospect Noelvi Marte.
Quero’s RBI single bounced beyond the reach of AL shortstop Jackson Holliday, the number-one pick by Baltimore in last year’s MLB draft and the top-ranked prospect in all of baseball. Marte, who had stolen third, jogged home.
Designated hitter Justin Crawford added a second-inning sacrifice fly, and the NL coasted up until Nunez’s game-breaking double.
American League hitters failed to respond, stymied by National League pitchers – more than one new arm per inning.
St. Louis right-hander Tink Hence let a pair of runners to reach in the home second before stranding them; he fielded the inning’s final out himself with an underhand toss to first base and held the 2-0 lead.
Giants prospect Carson Whisenhunt struck out Clase and Holliday on consecutive at-bats in the third, surrendering a two-out single in an otherwise clean frame.
Boston prospect Nick Yorke led off the home fifth with a double to the left-center warning track, but was stranded in scoring position when Braves righty Spencer Schwellenbach went on to retire the side in order.
National-Leaguers Yanquiel Fernandez (COL) and Brady House (WSH) led off the top of the sixth with consecutive singles, and Dodgers catching prospect Dalton Rushing was later plunked in the foot to load the bases with one out.
Then came Nunez, Miami’s 20th ranked prospect, who drove in three more. The trio of NL base runners – even Rushing, who was checked on by trainers at first base just minutes before – scampered home.
Nunez had himself the game’s biggest hit, and the National League held their biggest lead all evening.
“I focused, picked up the ball out of (his) hand, and was just ready to hit the ball,” Nunez said.
Aboard second base, the prospect of an MVP award had yet to cross Nunez’s mind. When he returned to the dugout upon conclusion of the inning, chatter among teammates began – they had pegged Nunez the most valuable player before the game’s final pitch.
“You’re MVP!” Nunez’s teammates exclaimed.
“All right, all right,” he replied. “Chill.”
Eight NL pitchers, in total, tossed the combined seven-inning shutout. Closed out in the seventh by Miami southpaw Patrick Monteverde, the National League walked five batters and whiffed a dozen.
Seattle was represented by top prospect and catcher Harry Ford, who caught three innings of Saturday’s contest and finished 0-for-1 with a strikeout. He managed a pair of close takes to work the count full, but struck out swinging on NL starter Mick Abel’s pay-off pitch - a high-90s heater to ended the first inning.
Double-A Arkansas outfield Jonatan Clase was Seattle’s other representative, a power-and-speed dual-threat who finished 0-for-2 with a pair of strikeouts.
But Clase owns the game’s web-gem, a diving catch in center field that turned a potential two-run single into a sacrifice fly. NL designated hitter Justin Crawford swatted the low liner as Clase, sprinting inward, dove and fell for the contest’s most impressive catch with the bases loaded.
It gave the NL a 2-0 lead, which proved insurmountable.
Ford and Clase are former roommates and teammates in parts of three seasons spanning into 2023. Their lockers stood side-by-side inside T-Mobile Park’s home clubhouse, reunited again.
“It’s been great seeing (Jonatan) flourish, and both of us doing (this) together,” said Ford.
REYNOLDS, IBANEZ MANAGE ROSTERS
Fans from Seattle are well-acquainted with both managers in Saturday’s Futures Game. Harold Reynolds, a two-time All-Star with Seattle in 1987-88 and currently an analyst for MLB Network, managed the American League.
Raul Ibanez, a member of the Mariners organization across three separate stints, managed the National League futures roster. Ibanez now serves as MLB’s Senior Vice President of On-Field Operations.
“I had the distinct privilege and pleasure of (playing) on this field for a long time,” Ibanez said. “And for these young guys to get this opportunity, to play and perform against this level of competition, on this stage, at this ballpark, it’s an extraordinary experience and one they’ll never forget.”
A slew of former Mariners joined both Reynolds and Ibanez in American and National League dugouts. Outfielders Jay Buhner and Mike Cameron, and “Mr. Mariner” Alvin Davis – to name a few – served on the AL staff.
“It’s special to sit here this many years later and host an All-Star Game for a team that you thought would be gone, out of town,” Reynolds said. “We watched the Sonics leave, and it leaves a hole in the city. I can’t even imagine what it’d be like if the Mariners weren’t here.”
Adrian Beltre, Felix Hernandez, and Dan Wilson were three of Ibanez’s nine National League coaches.
FUTURES FUN FACTS
– Saturday’s All-Star Futures rosters feature a combined 14 former first-round picks – eight from the American League and six from the National League.
– Of last year’s Futures Game roster, 22 have now appeared in the major leagues, including Arizona outfielder Corbin Carroll, Cincinnati infielder Elly De La Cruz, and New York infielder Anthony Volpe.
– A dozen internationally-born players make up both AL and NL rosters. Five players represent the Dominican Republic (including Seattle’s Clase), three represent Cuba, two represent Venezuela; the Bahamas and Netherlands each have one representative.
– Since the inaugural contest in 1999, a total of 222 Futures-Game alumni have gone on to participate in the MLB All-Star Game.
This story was originally published July 8, 2023 at 7:24 PM with the headline "National League blanks American League in All-Star Futures Game."
