Tribe's Zimmer selected for Futures Game
CLEVELAND -- Bradley Zimmer is heading to the SiriusXM All-Star Futures Game.
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On Thursday, Major League Baseball unveiled the United States and World rosters for the Futures Game, and the Indians will have their No. 3 prospect representing the organization on the U.S. team, while Triple-A Columbus hitting coach Rouglas Odor will be working for the World's coaching staff in the July 12 game at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati.
The 22-year-old Zimmer has earned a place on one of baseball's biggest stages for budding prospects. On Cleveland's active MLB roster, previous Futures Game participants include shortstop Francisco Lindor (2012-14), pitcher Carlos Carrasco ('06-08), first baseman Carlos Santana ('09), second baseman Jason Kipnis ('11) and pitcher Trevor Bauer ('12).
Through 65 games with Class A Advanced Lynchburg this season, Zimmer turned in a .300/.399/.488 slash line to go along with nine home runs, 12 doubles, three triples, 27 RBIs, 30 walks and 52 runs scored in his first full season. The left-handed-hitting outfielder also has stolen 28 bases in 32 attempts, showing great promise in an area the Indians hoped to see him work on this year.
"It's been pretty exciting," said Carter Hawkins, the Indians' director of player development. "He's such an impact player in all different facets of the game. ... He's not the fiery pesonality that you might see at times with a guy that's as aggressive as he is on the field. On the field, he's very aggressive. When you give him a challenge, he takes it and runs with it 100 percent."
The Indians selected Zimmer with the 21st overall pick in the 2014 First-Year Player Draft.
"It's fun to watch him progress," said Brad Grant, Cleveland's director of amateur scouting. "He's playing defense like we thought he'd play defense. He's gone out and hit like we thought he would. He's added power. He's added speed on the bases. So, he's doing everything developmentally that we've asked him to do."
Odor, the father of Texas infielder Rougned Odor, was a shortstop in the Indians' system from 1988-94.
"He's a great representative of the sport, really, not just the Indians," Hawkins said of Odor. "We're extremely lucky to have him. He's made a huge impact on guys like Frankie Lindor and all those guys in Triple-A. He's had his hands in a lot of the success stories we've had over the last few years."
MLB -- in conjunction with the MLB Scouting Bureau, MLB.com, Baseball American and the 30 MLB clubs -- selected the 25 players on each of the Futures Game rosters. The United States team will be managed by Ken Griffey Sr., while Tony Perez will handle the managerial dutues for the World. Hawkins was thrilled to have Odor added to Perez's coaching staff.
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.