Not only did the Atlanta Braves have two players recently selected to start in the MLB All-Star game –with Freddie Freeman locking down first base and Ronald Acuna Jr. getting a spot in the outfield – but two of their top prospects were selected to play in the Futures Game. Ian Anderson (RHP) and Cristian Pache (CF) highlight the Braves nominees. Both of these young players rank within the Top 26 prospects in the MLB Pipeline – Anderson 26th and Pache 14th. This is the first year the game will be played between the upcoming stars of the AL and the rising young studs in NL.
Ian Anderson was chosen in the first round by Atlanta in 2016 and has frequently been a top prospect within the organization since his debut. He has pitched through 78.2 innings this year and owns a record of 5 wins and 5 losses. The righty has an ERA of 3.20 and holds opposing batters to an average of .209 when they stand against him. He is one shy of 100 strikeouts already and is on pace to beat his career high of 142. Anderson is living up to the hype of being taken 3rd overall and might be the Braves best pitching prospect since the start of the rebuild.
Cristian Pache has routinely shown the Braves that he is going to be a factor in the league for a very long time. The 20-year-old not only gets it done with his bat but is one of the best defensive prospects in the MLB and reminds me a lot of former 10x gold glove center fielder and Atlanta Braves legend, Andruw Jones. So far this season, the Dominican Republic native is slashing .295/.352/.516 with 10 HRs and 45 RBIs. Pache has been a force on every Braves farm team thus far and will look to continue to show flashes of a potential All-Star in this Futures game against some of the best pitching prospects the American League has to offer.
The game will take place on Tuesday, July 9th.