Blue Jays' Labourt tabbed for Futures Game
Dominican left-hander will be a member of the World roster for July 12 contest
TORONTO -- Left-hander Jairo Labourt will represent the Blue Jays at the upcoming SiriusXM All-Star Futures Game in Cincinnati.
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Labourt was officially named to the World Team during an announcement on Thursday afternoon. Major League Baseball, along with the MLB Scouting Bureau, MLB.com, Baseball America and the 30 big league clubs, selected the 25 players for each team.
Each Major League organization will be represented in the game, which will take place on July 12 at the Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati. The Futures Game is now in its 17th year, with the United States team having won each of the past five games.
Labourt is ranked the Blue Jays' 10th-best prospect by MLBPipeline.com. He has a 2-4 record with a 3.65 ERA in 13 starts for the Class A Dunedin Blue Jays this season. Labourt also has 50 strikeouts and 36 walks over 56 2/3 innings.
The 6-foot-4 lefty joined the Blue Jays organization in 2011 and has been gradually working his way up the system. Labourt throws a sinking fastball in the low 90s and generates a lot of ground balls. His best secondary pitch is a slider, and he has a changeup as well.
In order to be eligible for the Futures Game, players must be on the roster of a full-season Minor League team. That eliminates the lower levels of Toronto's system, which includes Lansing, Vancouver and Bluefield.
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.