Futures Game highlights prospects on fast track to majors

MIAMI – Every year, baseball fantasy owners get well-deserved time off when the All-Star Game rolls around.

The four-day respite from regular-season action is an opportunity to take stock of where teams stand and plan a strategy for the stretch run.

That’s why the All-Star Futures Game is so intriguing for fantasy owners. It’s the first opportunity to see some of the game’s best prospects with their own eyes.

While many players in the game are known mostly as names on teams’ top prospect lists, there’s a pretty good chance we’ll see them in major league uniforms by the end of the season.

Already, 26 players from last year’s Futures Game have appeared on major league rosters in 2017. Among them: Andrew ­Benintendi, Alex Bregman, Gary Sanchez, Ryon Healy, Manuel Margot, Hunter Renfroe and Dansby Swanson. (That doesn’t even include 2016 game MVP Yoan Moncada, who was promoted to the majors in September.)

Which of this year’s players could be fantasy contributors before the end of the 2017 season?

SP Brent Honeywell, Tampa Bay Rays

Team USA jumped to a 7-0 lead and held on for a 7-6 victory. As the starting pitcher for the USA, Honeywell set the tone with two scoreless innings and four strikeouts. He was the first pitcher in Futures Game history to win the MVP award.

What makes the right-hander so intriguing is his five-pitch repertoire, which includes a screwball. He threw one screwball in his 34-pitch outing, and he used it to strike out Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Alex Verdugo.

“I’d kind of thrown him everything, and he got to it. I was like, ‘If I’m going to do it, I’m just going to do it right here. If it’s good, it’s gonna be the only one I throw,’ ” Honeywell said. “And it was a really good one.”

Honeywell, 22, has experienced growing pains in his move up to Class AAA early this season. Just as in the Futures Game, he has shown signs of dominance with 99 strikeouts and 22 walks in 79 1/3 innings. But he also has been hittable, sporting a 4.54 ERA and 1.44 WHIP.

“There’s been really good days, and there’s been really bad days,” Honeywell said. “But on the days that I have gotten beat, I really thought I threw the ball decent.”

The Rays are notoriously deliberate in promoting young pitching prospects, but with the success Jacob Faria, 23, has enjoyed since he was promoted, Honeywell could get the call this season.

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OF Derek Fisher, Houston Astros

Fisher was called up to Houston for a five-game stint in mid-June. In that small sample (.278, two homers, three RBI), he showed the combination of power and speed that excites fantasy owners.

In 74 games at Class AAA Fresno, he has 19 homers and 14 steals to go with a .306 average and .370 on-base percentage.

At the Futures Game, Fisher put on one of the most an impressive performances in batting practice, launching several balls into the upper deck at Marlins Park. As the No. 3 hitter, he was in the middle of a couple of U.S. rallies with a walk and run scored in the first inning and a two-run double in the fourth.

“It’s something you don’t really realize how big it is until you look down. It’s the first time I’ve ever played with ‘USA’ across my chest,” he said. “Being able to do that and continue to put runs on the board in a good at-bat is a lot of fun.”

He also stole a base, moving from second to third when the pitcher wasn’t watching closely. The baseball acumen is what has Fisher, 23, poised to return to the majors for a lengthier stay next time.

1B Rhys Hoskins, Philadelphia Phillies

After finishing second in home runs in the minor leagues last season, Hoskins has continued his slugging ways at Class AAA Lehigh Valley (Pa.), with 20 homers and 66 RBI in 88 games this year.

As Team USA’s cleanup hitter, he singled and was hit by a pitch among his three plate appearances. But what the box score didn’t show was his excellent bat speed, which is an important element in his ability to hit for such power.

At 76.6 mph, Hoskins had the highest bat speed in the Futures Game. (He and U.S. teammate Lewis Brinson of the Milwaukee Brewers accounted for four of the game’s top five.)

Another component of his success is knowing which pitches to attack. “I’m swinging at pitches that I can do more damage with in certain counts,” he said. “I’ve been able to put better swings on pitches that I want to hit.”

Hoskins, 24, has made big strides in plate discipline this year, cutting his strikeout rate from 21.9% to 15.1%. At the same time, he has increased his walk rate to 13.4%. That’s a combination rarely seen among players who hit for so much power.

Perhaps the only thing keeping Hoskins from the majors is the lack of a place to play. Tommy Joseph is having a solid season, and neither can play any other position. One likely will be traded before the start of next season.

SS Amed Rosario, New York Mets

Though Rosario struck out in both plate appearances, he was a closely watched player. He has looked much better at Class AAA Las Vegas, hitting .327 with a .365 on-base percentage, seven home runs and 16 steals, all at age 21.

The Mets say he needs to improve his defense, but he made a nifty pickup in the third inning to start a potential double play, though second baseman Moncada made an error on the throw to first.

Rosario says he just wants to be ready when a call-up happens.

With the struggling Mets looking to deal established veterans, Rosario’s time could come soon after the July 31 trade deadline.

Others to watch

One of the most exciting players in this year’s Futures Game was also the youngest: third baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr., 18, of the Toronto Blue Jays.

He has a swing reminiscent of his nine-time All-Star father’s, though he’s not hitting for quite as much power at this stage of his career. Guerrero had two singles and scored twice in the Futures Game.

Shortstop Brendan Rodgers, 20, of the Colorado Rockies was recently promoted to Class AA after hitting .400 with 12 homers and a .700 slugging percentage in the hitter-friendly California League.

He singled, scored, drove in a run and made perhaps the game’s best defensive play on a scalding liner to him at second base. He also walked in his final plate appearance, something he rarely done in the minors.

In 280 plate appearances over two levels, Rodgers has walked a total of eight times (3%) all season.

Brewers prospect Corey Ray, 22, started slowly this season at high A Carolina (Zebulon, N.C.) as he recovered from offseason knee surgery. But he put on an impressive display of power in batting practice, especially for someone 5-11, 185. He was hitless in two at-bats and misplayed a ground ball in the outfield, but the fifth overall pick in the 2016 draft shows exciting potential.