ATLANTA – It can be a dizzying climb: Star amateur player to draft day to prospect list and, just like that, the major leagues.
For the dozens of participants in Major League Baseball’s Futures Game, a weekend spent immersed with fellow elite prospects can offer a moment’s perspective on how far they’ve come.
Yet for those who have climbed to Class AA or AAA, who have reached the “just a phone call away” of the developmental program, it brings the whirlwind right back – and the promise of what may be around the corner.
“I’m surrounded by and playing with the best minor league players in every organization right now,” Toronto Blue Jays Class AAA right-hander Trey Yesavage tells USA TODAY Sports on July 12.
“It goes to show I’m just as close as every one of these guys and it’s great to be here.”
With the second half looming and both pennant races and the trade deadline tempting teams to scuttle best-laid plans and bring the minors’ best to the big leagues, USA TODAY Sports checks in with four rising stars on the doorstep to the big leagues:
JJ Wetherholt, infielder, St. Louis Cardinals: A speedy rise
It’s been just a year since Wetherholt donned a Western fit and shook commissioner Rob Manfred’s hand as the seventh overall pick in the 2024 draft, and just a week since he got promoted from Class AA Springfield to AAA Memphis.
Yet there are multiple forces that make Wetherholt an intriguing candidate for a St. Louis summons: He’s tearing up the minor leagues, is unstoppable on the basepaths – and the Cardinals have defied all expectations of what 2025 would look like by hanging in the playoff race.
While Wetherholt is a shortstop by trade and the Cardinals have Masyn Winn entrenched there, he could easily slide to second or third base. And, above all, his speed brings an element any contender could use.
While Wetherholt has just 16 steals in his 94-game pro career, he’s only been caught twice, an elite 88.9% success rate. That’s even better than his college exploits at West Virginia University, where he stole 57 bags in 73 tries.
“Really, it just comes down to trusting my legs,” says Wetherholt. “It’s going to come down to the pitcher’s time and the catcher’s time. If I see the catcher’s pop time and the pitcher’s time (delivering to home) is something that makes me realize I can get a good jump and steal, I’m all over it. I’m going to trust it.
“If I play the calculations right, I should be safe every time.”
He’s in the right organization, from a heritage standpoint. The Cardinals have long thrived on speed, from current center fielder Victor Scott all the way back to their go-go teams from the 1980s, many of whom have befriended Wetherholt.
Hall of Famer Ozzie Smith has struck up a particular friendship.
“They keep you humble, because you got to see what they do and you see how humble they are, it’s just ridiculous,” says Wetherholt.
“Ozzie Smith is the nicest dude ever. He was so excited to meet me and I was like, ‘Dude, I’m shaking right now.’ It’s awesome.”
Wetherholt may not follow directly in Ozzie’s footsteps and to that point, he’s willing to embrace the versatility that’s both a hallmark of the current Cardinals roster and an increasing necessity in today’s game.
Whatever gets him from Memphis to St. Louis.
“Obviously, my focus has been the middle of the infield. That’s where they see me long term,” he says. “For me, I’m a competitor. A lot of people talk about my bat and I hope that excels. Defensively, I’m going to work my butt off to be good wherever that may be.
“But I’m definitely open to anything.”
Harry Ford, catcher, Seattle Mariners: Third time’s the charm?
At least Harry Ford has home-field advantage this time.
The Futures Game is typically both rite of passage and waystation, but Ford is playing in the midsummer mini-classic for a third time, for a couple of reasons.
First, he was a very precocious prospect once the Mariners drafted him 12th overall in 2021. And now, he’s blocked from a big league job by perhaps the greatest story in baseball this year: Cal Raleigh.
Yet Ford, 22, is staying sanguine about it. Born in Atlanta, he attended high school at North Cobb, about 20 miles from Truist Park. He secured 22 Futures Game tickets for friends and family.
His big league time will come, the clock ticking only a bit faster when the Mariners summoned him to Texas last month for a night on the taxi squad, in case backup Mitch Garver couldn’t go.
The debut wasn’t to be, and with Raleigh slugging an otherworldly 38 home runs before the All-Star break, a full-time job isn’t in the offing. But Ford is strafing Class AAA pitching. His time is coming, even if it requires a trade from Seattle if they see a greater need to fill to maintain their positioning, one-half game out of a playoff spot.
“I try my best to stay where I’m at,” says Ford. “You know, something that I lean on the most is a proverb, and it says the king’s heart is in the hand of Lord, he guides it like a stream of water. He guides it wherever he pleases.
“And so I’m just like, you know what? My career in God’s hands and I just let it let it be where he decides it to go.”
Right now, it’s running roughshod over the Pacific Coast League. Ford is slashing .292/.409/.446 at Tacoma, his .854 OPS 109 points better than his Class AA mark. Ford is doing just fine.
“I’m only 22. I’ve got a lot of time to grow. Just continue to grow, continue to get wisdom,” he says.
“I mean, it’s not too many 22-year-olds at AAA. So sometimes, it’s nice to take a step back and see that. Proud of what I’ve been so far.”
Carson Whisenhunt, left-hander, San Francisco Giants: Bustin’ loose
The biggest jolt from baseball’s first half was felt all the way in Sacramento, a couple hours east from where Rafael Devers touched down as a San Francisco Giant in a blockbuster trade with the Boston Red Sox.
Headed east in that deal: Kyle Harrison, a valued young lefty who’d flashed potential in bouncing from Class AAA and the Giants. And suddenly, Carson Whisenhunt found him a little closer to the front of the line.
“We all were kind of stunned on that one,” says Whisenhunt, a second-round pick in 2022 out of East Carolina. “Nobody really knew what to expect once that happened, but everything happens for a reason and we got Devers out of it. And hopefully he helps the team up there and we go from there.”
It might not be long before Whisenhunt’s that guy helping the big club.
He impressed in big league spring training and, for now, is sporting a 4.50 ERA – a quality start, essentially – at Sacramento while hoping to follow the example of two of his close friends.
Landen Roupp and Hayden Birdsong have graduated to San Francisco, mainstays in the Giants rotation and, in Roupp’s case, an indispensable cog with a 3.39 ERA in 18 starts. Birdsong has not met as much success, but has very high-end stuff.
Whisenhunt has been taking notes, learning and listening.
“It’s a great path to follow,” says Whisenhunt. “They’re both throwing really well. Roupp’s had a great year. Birdy’s struggled a little bit but he has great stuff; nobody’s worried about what he can do on the field.
“I’m close with Birdy and Roupp. I pick their brains on what’s going on, what’s working and not working, take little bits and pieces of it and apply to myself.”
That usually starts with featuring his changeup, a beguiling offering that lands in the low 80s and plays nicely off a fastball that touches the mid-90s. Above all Whisenhunt is developing a better feel for his pitches, a development he credits to changes made by new club president Buster Posey loosening the reins just a bit on the young starters.
“It’s definitely different this year, especially with Posey overtaking everything,” says Whisenhunt. “Last year we were on a restriction of how many innings, how many pitches per outing. This year, there’s still a limit, but the limit is a lot higher.
“It’s trying to get us extended – the guys that do get called up ready to compete once their name’s called.”
That time draws increasingly nearer for Whisenhunt.
Trey Yesavage, right-hander, Toronto Blue Jays: Full-time gig
It’s not that Trey Yesavage did not take his academic pursuits seriously at East Carolina University. It’s just that, one year since Toronto plucked him out of Greenville with the 20th overall pick a year ago, he’s feeling a nice boost when his first and only job is baseball.
“I’ve definitely gotten stronger, I’ll tell you that,” says Yesavage. “I’ve built a good foundation and my body’s feeling amazing because of it.”
He’s getting a pretty good workout from the figurative steps he’s climbing: Seven starts at Class A Dunedin, four more at high-A Vancouver and now five more at AA New Hampshire. Yesavage dominated the younger competition in Florida, striking out 55 in just three innings, and posted a WHIP of less than 1 in both of his A ball outposts.
The going has gotten more challenging at Class AA – he has 23 strikeouts and 11 walks in 17 innings over five starts – but the growth is real.
“I can say that I’ve become more of a pitchability guy, throwing pitches in any count I want, and it’s been a big help for my career,” says Yesavage. “Not having distractions but being able to focus on one task and hone in on that.”
Yesavage’s employers have been the hottest team in the AL East for more than a month, and lead the division by 2 ½ games. Yesavage’s steps would have to become leaps to earn a summons for the playoff push, but he’s methodically passed every other hurdle so far.
“You’re obviously going to have that main goal of making it to the big leagues and having a long career there. You also have to remember the milestones along the way, what’s going to help you get there,” he says. “If you’re worried about two months in advance, the game in front of you is not going to go good and that’s going to set you back from your main goal.”
Brody Hopkins, right-hander, Tampa Bay Rays: A new home
For many of the Futures Games participants, it was easy to get star-struck by members of their coaching staff, a Braves-centric group featuring Hall of Famer Chipper Jones and Fred McGriff, among others.
For Brody Hopkins, it was a little startling to see the company he can now call peers.
“I would say it feels a little more real, and I would say coming here makes it feel even more realer, if that’s a word,” says Hopkins, a Tampa Bay Rays right-hander. “Being here, looking around, it’s crazy. I couldn’t have told you two years ago that this was where I’d be. I’m just trying to soak it all in, take as many pictures as I can, talk to as many people as I can.
“You only get this moment once.”
This is just Hopkins’ second season as a full-time pitcher, as he dabbled in the outfield both at Winthrop and in the Seattle and Tampa Bay organizations.
But his career took a turn when he was a key piece of the trade that sent All-Star outfielder Randy Arozarena from Tampa Bay to Seattle, one year after the Mariners selected him in the sixth round.
“They just instill confidence in me, tell me to be an athlete and let my athleticism take over,” says Hopkins of Tampa Bay. “Kind of just tell me to trust my stuff, throw everything down the middle, make it presentable and let my (pitch) shapes do what they do.
“I was traded early, but I feel like the Rays are my home.”
They’re doing pretty well so far. Hopkins has struck out 98 in 80 innings at Class AA Montgomery, his 3.35 ERA not much worse than the 3.05 mark he posted at two A ball stops in 2024.
His fastball sits in the mid-90s and he possesses a slider that’s a wipeout offering to right-handers. Hopkins still profiles as a starter, but that two-pitch arsenal alone could make him an attractive option for an earlier trip to Tampa Bay, with the Rays once again in playoff position.
“I’m not going to say I’m going to get there tomorrow,” says Thorpe. “I’m not going to say I’ll be there in two years.
“But it could be somewhere in between there and when that day happens, it’s going to be pretty exciting.”