Prospect Albies headed to Futures Game
WASHINGTON -- Ozhaino Albies will have an opportunity to show the baseball world why the Braves have become so enamored with his tremendous potential.
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Albies will serve as the Braves' only representative in this year's SiriusXM Futures Game, which will be contested on July 12 at Cincinnati's Great American Ball Park. The 18-year-old shortstop from Curacao will play for the World Team during this contest that annually provides baseball's top prospects a chance to compete against each other and kick off the All-Star Game festivities.
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The 17th annual SiriusXM All-Star Futures Game takes place at 3 p.m. ET on July 12, and it can be seen live on MLB Network and MLB.com, with Matt Vasgersian, Dan Plesac, Heidi Watney and Jonathan Mayo on the call. In addition, SiriusXM Radio will broadcast play-by-play coverage of the event live on MLB Network Radio (XM channel 89; Sirius channel 209). MLB.com will also provide complete coverage before, during and after the game. Fans can stay updated by following @FuturesGame on Twitter and can send/receive tweets to/from the U.S. and World dugouts during the game by tagging tweets with the hashtags #USDugout and #WorldDugout.
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Though he stands 5-foot-9 and weighs approximately 160 pounds, Albies has experienced little trouble since making his professional debut last year. MLBPipeline.com ranks the talented shortstop as the fifth-best prospect in the Braves' system.
Albies has batted .340 with a .423 on-base percentage and 44 stolen bases through his first 123 games at the professional level. Despite being one of the youngest players in the South Atlantic League, he has hit .322, compiled a .782 OPS and proven successful on 22 of 28 stolen-base attempts with Class A Rome this year.