PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Only 19 years old and a scant 61 years younger than his All-Star Futures Game manager, Nathan Flewelling has tried not to put a timetable on his potential big league debut.
Going deep in a major league ballpark sure gives hope in Tampa Bay that Flewelling could fit in fine once he gets there.
“I think I'm getting more ready every single day,” Flewelling said. “So I think it could be soon.”
Flewelling hit a two-run home run and earned MVP honors, and the American League team managed by 80-year-old Larry Bowa needed only five hits to beat the National League 6-1 on Sunday in the All-Star Futures Game.
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.
Flewelling has kept an eye on the standings with the Rays in first place in the AL East.
“I'm really willing to impact the race,” Flewelling said. “I'm excited to get up there one day and hopefully help them out.”
Wood shows promise in his inning
Phillies minor leaguer Gage Wood earned the start for the National League 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.
“I know before that first pitch, my heart was pumping,” Wood said.
Former Phillies outfielder and NL 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.
Wood naturally hoped to get the call one day to help the Phillies in a pennant race at Citizens Bank Park.
“When I went up those steps and I got out there on the grass, I looked up and I was like, ‘Wow, this looks way bigger than from the suite when we were here when we signed last year,’” Wood said. “That was awesome. The park's huge. Everybody here was like, man, you've got a good home park. I was like, yeah, this place is sick.”
Winners and losers
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 honors.
Boston's Anthony Eyanson earned the win and San Diego's Kash Mayfield took the loss.
Former Phillies are the managers
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.
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.
He 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.
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