Clogs, broken windshields and more: Predictions from the 2014 Futures Game
Post-Futures Game, here are 4 things we can expect
Every year, the Ghost of Baseball Yet to Come visits us in the form of the Futures Game, showcasing talents like Noah Snydergaard, Gabby Guerrero and Domingo German. But what else can we look forward to? What trends are written there on that stone?
We'll see more mammoth home runs:
Rangers prospect and Futures Game MVP Joey Gallo hit a thundering, 419-foot two-run homer that scored Team USA's winning run. During batting practice, he even hit a few balls into the parking lot:
Who's gonna pay for this windshield, @JoeyGallo24? Huh, huh?! #FuturesGame pic.twitter.com/NtckfW4sFz
- Dave Brown (@AnswerDave) July 13, 2014A few years from now, you might be able to buy windshield defense systems at your local ballpark.
And Gallo isn't the only one. Cubs prospect Javier Baez hit a 399-foot opposite field homer, scoring Team World's only two runs of the game:
We can also expect to enjoy the continued artistry of the bat flip:
Or perhaps their decline. At first, we thought that Joey Gallo might one day dethrone reigning monarch His Bat-Flip-ness Yasiel Puig, but apparently his bat flip was an accident:
This may disappoint @Cut4, but @JoeyGallo24 said his bat flip was inadvertent; bat stuck to the pine tar on his hand. http://t.co/A6JCHV0Tqv
- Futures Game (@futuresgame) July 14, 2014 We'll also keep our eyes open for the rise of the machines (well, the more widespread use MLBAM's new tracking technogy):
MLBAM's new tracking system, introduced in March of this year, is only operational in two stadiums this year. However, as the techonolgy continues to unlock new ways to analyze every play, expect to see stats like route efficiency become more present in player evaluation.
And of course we'll be waiting for the global resurgence of clogs, as shown off by Team World manager Bert Blyleven:
