NEW YORK - Minor League Baseball (MiLB) announced on Wednesday that 2026 Fredericksburg Nationals IF Eli Willits and RHP Miguel Sime Jr. have been named to the National League Futures Game roster.
The 2025 draft picks played a major role in the FredNats 1st half championship and led the team to their best 1st half record in franchise history. Willits had 23 extra-base hits in 47 games and still leads Fredericksburg with 29 steals on the season. Sime Jr. left Fredericksburg with a remarkable 18.5 K/9 that led all of Minor League Baseball. Willits and Sime Jr. have both been promoted to High-A Wilmington. They have both continued to dominate as two of the younger players at the High-A level.
The 2026 All-Star Futures Game, which is scheduled for seven innings, will once again feature the NL vs. AL format, which was introduced in 2019 following 20 years of U.S. vs. World matchups. Last year in Atlanta, the NL came out on top with a 4-2 victory after the aforementioned de Paula launched a tie-breaking three-run homer in the fourth inning. With the victory, the NL won a third consecutive contest and improved to 4-1-1 under the current format. Among all previous Futures Game participants, 86.8% have gone on to play at least one Major League game, while 259 total players thus far (21.3%) have been selected to play in at least one Major League All-Star Game.