Over the past several years, the Baseball Factory All-American Game has been a mainstay of the high school summer showcase circuit, taking place at Wrigley Field in late July. The pandemic had a definite impact on the 2020 schedule, with events moving locations and times.
The Baseball Factory event was affected as well, but it wasn’t canceled. Now billed as the All-Star Classic, it’s taking place on Sunday, Oct. 4 at 1:05 p.m. ET and has been moved from Chicago to Dr. Pepper Ballpark in Frisco, Texas, the usual home for the Double-A Frisco RoughRiders.
As usual, the game will feature many of the top high school players eligible for next year’s Draft. Since the game was started in 2008, 365 of the 399 draft eligible players from the game have been selected in the Draft, including 108 first-round picks. It looks like this year’s rosters should further pad those statistics, with 10 of the recently ranked top 15 high school prospects by MLB Pipeline planning to attend.
That group is led by the top three in those rankings: shortstop Jordan Lawlar from Texas, right-hander Andrew Painter from California and fellow Californian, shortstop Marcelo Mayer. Right-hander Christian Little is also slated to pitch, a player who would have landed in the top 15 but is not on rankings because he graduated high school early with the intent to head to Vanderbilt ahead of the Draft.
“I’m excited to see the talented group of players taking the field Sunday in the Baseball Factory All-Star Classic,” Baseball Factory chief baseball officer Steve Bernhardt said. “These prospects are an outstanding mix of tools, athleticism and the ability to play and pitch when they get between the white lines.”
Over the years, this game has been a big indicator of high-end Draft talent, highlighted most recently by five first-rounders in the 2020 Draft (including top 10 picks Robert Hassell III, taken by the Padres, and Zac Veen, a Rockies selection) and three top 10 picks in the 2019 Draft: No. 2 overall pick Bobby Witt Jr. of the Royals, No. 5 Riley Greene (Tigers) and No. 6 CJ Abrams (Padres).
Who will be the prep players taken in the first round of the 2021 Draft? Check out the rosters below and watch the game live at 1:05 p.m. EST right here.