Photo: screenshot, twitter.com/dragonsbaseball
Elly De La Cruz runs the bases after hitting a home run for the Dayton Dragons on July 7, 2022.
The Cincinnati Reds may have failed to be voted into Major League Baseball's 2022 All-Star Game (well, so far), but several Reds-affiliated players and coaches in the minor leagues will head to Los Angeles as part of the All-Star Futures Game.
Like the MLB All-Star Game, the All-Star Futures Game will be played at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles as part of All-Star Weekend later this month. The Futures Game is a seven-inning affair – rather than the typical nine – that showcases talent from each MLB team's farm system in the big-league game's typical National League vs. American League setup. Career Dodgers catcher and longtime Los Angeles Angels manager Mike Scioscia will manage the NL team, while Jimmy Rollins – who had amassed multiple team records and awards during his many years as a shortstop with the Philadelphia Phillies – will lead the AL team. Both managers have contributed to World Series wins.
Eric Davis, the Cincinnati Reds hall of famer and 1990 World Series winner who now develops players in the minors, will serve as first-base coach for the NL. Davis had been the Reds' centerfielder for multiple seasons and regularly posted 30 homers and 40 stolen bases per year.
Two players in the Reds' minors will play for the National League during the Futures game. Pitcher Andrew Abbot, who plays for the Chattanooga Lookouts in the Southern League of Double-A, has posted seven wins and a 4.09 ERA for 2022 so far. He was promoted from the High-A Dayton Dragons earlier this year. Meanwhile, Dragons shortstop Elly De La Cruz has knocked in 18 homers and has stolen 26 bases so far this season. The switch-hitter nabbed three of those dingers during a double-header on July 7, shortly after he was named to the Futures team.
As of press time, De La Cruz is the No. 2 prospect in the Reds organization, while Abbott is No. 12.SWEET SIXTEEN! #FeeltheFire pic.twitter.com/RYoxNuX5Bk
— Dayton Dragons (@DragonsBaseball) July 7, 2022
In the big leagues, no Cincinnati Reds players have been selected to play in the All-Star Game thus far. Fans voted their favorite players into each fielding position throughout June, and Reds players did not receive enough support to move into the finals. There's still a little hope for some Reds participation, though – pitchers will be determined later by a combination of voting and commissioner selection.
The All-Star Futures Game will be played at 7 p.m. July 16 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. It's part of All-Star Week, which also will include the All-Star Game, the All-Star Celebrity Softball Game, an MLB draft, fan fests, public baseball instruction and music. The Los Angeles Dodgers originally were to host the All-Star Game in 2020, but that game was cancelled due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
As of July 8, the Cincinnati are 29-54 for the 2022 season, which puts them in last place in the NL Central and – once again – last in the entire MLB. Earlier this year, baseball experts had said that the Reds were on pace for a 125-loss season, the lowest for any team since 1900.
The team continues to get backlash from fans who feel the Reds' owner and front office aren't doing enough to win, with one person even saying they wanted to "defecate in the bed of the Toyota Tundra" that's on display at Cincinnati's Great American Ball Park.
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