BOSTON -- Since he was drafted by the Royals with the second overall pick of the 2019 Draft, Bobby Witt Jr. has been pushed as one of the most anticipated prospects.

So far, the Royals' top prospect is living up to the hype.

One day after posting his fifth three-hit game of the season, Witt was selected to play in the 2021 SiriusXM All-Star Futures Game, along with fellow Royals prospect Nick Pratto (No. 5). The Futures Game will be played on July 11 at Coors Field as part of this year’s All-Star weekend.

“I’ll be watching closely,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said after the announcement. “They’re both having fantastic seasons, and it’s good to see our guys.”

• Keep up with Witt updates

In 45 games with Double-A Northwest Arkansas, Witt is batting .286 with a .905 OPS. The infielder ranks second in RBIs (35) and total bases (102), third in extra-base hits (22), fourth in runs (33) and is tied for fifth with 12 home runs in the Double-A Central Division.

After a promising first full season with Class A Lexington in 2018, Pratto struggled in ‘19, batting .191/.278/.310 with just nine homers in 124 games. When the ‘20 season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Pratto spent the year working with Royals hitting coaches at the alternate training site, using the time to return to his swing and get back to the player Kansas City drafted 14th overall in ‘17. The work paid off, and Pratto has enjoyed a productive season in Double-A (.280/.407/.604 with 13 homers entering play on Wednesday).

“I feel like I’ve been in a pretty good spot for a while,” Pratto said in May. “I just keep using the processes that I’ve built. It’s nice to have some feedback in real games, but to me, it’s just building off of what I’ve already done. It’s a great feeling.”

Witt and Pratto are no strangers to being teammates, as the two have spent the 2021 season holding down the infield with Northwest Arkansas.

“We’ve built a good friendship, and it started before COVID hit,” Pratto said in May of Witt. “Even when he got drafted, I reached out right away, because I was like, ‘This is a guy I want to be around because I know he’s going to approach this the same way I do.’ It’s been a good ride so far, but this isn’t the only place we want to be having success. It’s exciting, but also we need to be able to take care of business as we go.”

• Top Witt highlights

MLB Network will televise the Futures Game, which will also stream on MLB.com and air on SiriusXM, at 4 p.m. CT. Scott Braun, Yonder Alonso and Jonathan Mayo will call the action, with Heidi Watney reporting from both dugouts.

Salvy poised for All-Star Game
MLB released updated vote totals for Phase 2 of the All-Star Game starters ballot on Wednesday, with Salvador Perez still leading American League catchers by a hefty margin (61 percent of total votes). Houston’s Martín Maldonado trails with 21 percent, followed by the White Sox Yasmani Grandal with 19 percent.

After sitting out the 2019 season due to undergoing Tommy John surgery, this would be Perez’s first All-Star Game appearance since ’18. Perez, a six-time All-Star (five-time starter) trails only Hall of Famer George Brett for the most All-Star starts (nine, 13 total games) as a Royal.

Fans can vote via all MLB platforms, including MLB.com, all 30 club sites and the MLB and MLB Ballpark mobile apps. On Google Search (in the U.S. and Canada only), fans can most efficiently vote for any player on the ballot by entering a player's name (for example, “Vladimir Guerrero Jr.”), taking you directly to that player's section of the ballot. Alternately, fans can go directly to the Google ballot or enter searches such as “MLB vote” or “MLB All-Star vote” in the search bar. These searches will trigger a full All-Star ballot within the search results.

Phase 2 of voting runs until Thursday at 3 p.m. CT, with the winners announced later that night during the 2021 Google MLB All-Star Starters Reveal at 10 p.m. on ESPN.

Omaha roster move
Outfielder Rudy Martin was promoted to Triple-A Omaha on Wednesday. The 25-year-old -- who made his professional debut in 2015 -- has slashed .318/.450/.488 in 42 games with Double-A Northwest Arkansas this season. In ‘19, the outfielder appeared in 12 games for Omaha, batting .214 with two homers and four RBIs in 42 at-bats.

Up next
Kris Bubic is set to start on Thursday afternoon as the Royals wrap a four-game set in Boston. The lefty is 2-3 with a 4.47 ERA in 13 appearances (six starts) for Kansas City this season. In his last start, Bubic went 4 2/3 innings, giving up five runs on seven hits in a loss to Oakland. First pitch on Thursday is scheduled for 12:10 p.m. CT.