Cleveland’s prospect pipeline is sending two more names onto a national stage.
Ralphy Velazquez and Cooper Ingle were both picked for the American League roster in the 27th annual Futures Game, set for July 12 at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia as part of All-Star Week. For a Guardians system that has been turning out impact talent with real consistency, the selections put another spotlight on two players whose stock is rising fast.
MLB.com’s Jim Callis, Sam Dykstra and Jonathan Mayo laid out the case for both players in their team-by-team Futures Game breakdown.
“Baseball’s top rated first base prospect, Velazquez has the highest offensive ceiling of any Guardians prospect, making regular hard contact and exuding 30 homer potential. Ingle is an athletic catcher who ranked second in the International League with a .967 OPS and already had set a career high with 12 homers when he was promoted to the majors five days ago,” Callis, Dykstra, and Mayo wrote.
Velazquez is the bigger headliner. MLB Pipeline has him ranked as the top first base prospect in baseball, and the 21-year-old has climbed all the way to No. 38 on the outlet’s top 100 list after opening the season at No.
- Drafted by Cleveland in the first round of the 2023 draft out of Huntington Beach High School, the San Pedro, California, native has backed up the investment at every stop.
The power is loud, the contact is real, and the rise has been impossible to ignore.
Ingle’s path is different, but just as notable. The 24-year-old catcher, born in Asheville, North Carolina, and a Clemson product, had already reached a new career high with 12 homers when Cleveland selected his contract and brought him to the majors five days before the Futures Game roster was announced.
His .967 OPS was good for second in the International League, and it helped earn him a spot in Stephen Vogt’s lineup against Seattle. He’ll now take part in the Futures Game as a big leaguer, which is not exactly an everyday development.
The Guardians already have Travis Bazzana locked in at second base in the major league lineup, while Parker Messick is putting together an All-Star caliber rotation season. Add Velazquez and Ingle to the mix, and Cleveland’s talent factory keeps looking deeper by the day. Their Futures Game nods in Philadelphia offer another look at the next wave coming through.
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