Natalie Gilmore
For The Signal
With the Major League Baseball All-Star break upon us, the league’s top prospects were given the opportunity to compete on the biggest stage in baseball. This year’s Major League Baseball Futures game featured some familiar faces.
Hunter Greene of Stevenson Ranch and Keston Hiura of Valencia not only made a name for themselves in the 2017 MLB Draft, but also with their appearance in the 2018 MLB All-Star Futures game, representing Team USA on Sunday, July 15th at Nationals Park.
The Worlds team roster was stacked with prospects, but the USA team overpowered them to earn a 10-6 victory. Greene hurled nothing but heat from his first pitch, clocking speeds in the low hundreds. This came as no surprise, since the Notre Dame High alumnus was named the Cincinnati Reds Minor League Baseball (MiLB) co-pitcher of the month in June with 27 innings pitched and a 2.33 ERA.
USA teammate and Valencia grad Hiura was selected to the MiLB All-Star game from the Milwaukee Brewers double-A team known as the Biloxi Shuckers. The second baseman started the season in the Carolina League single-A and was promoted to double-A on June 1st. In 2018, Hiura has averaged .305 at the plate with 103 hits, 10 home runs and 30 RBIs. Hiura has appeared in 84 games this season and had his first four-hit game for Biloxi on Saturday.
Another Santa Clarita natives to watch is Cole Roederer. The Hart grad plays in the Arizona Rookie League among the Chicago Cubs ball club. He has played in eight games with 30 at-bats with a batting average of .333. Roederer posted 10 hits, two home runs and seven RBIs.
Jacob Lopez from Saugus High and College of the Canyons was drafted on the third day of the 2018 MLB draft to the San Francisco Giants. Lopez competes in the Arizona league where he’s pitched one inning and earned one strikeout thus far.
Competing among the Chicago Cubs ball club with the Eugene Emeralds, Paul Richan pitched six innings and struck out nine in the 2018 season. Richan was drafted in the second round to the Cubs in 2018 after graduating from Hart High in 2015.
Bishop Alemany alumnus and Canyon Country native Alex McKenna was drafted in the fourth round of the MLB draft to the Houston Astros. Appearing in 16 single-A games, McKenna batted .288 and on 17 hits.
From The Master’s University, pitcher Preston White competes in the Arizona Rookie League in the San Francisco Giants organization. In 2018, White pitched two innings and struck out one batter.
