The XM All-Stars Futures Game will take place on Sunday, July 10, two days before the Major League Baseball All-Star game at Bank One Ballpark in Phoenix, Arizona. The game is set up in a "U.S. vs the World" format, and takes a total of 50 players from all levels of minor league baseball to comprise its rosters.
↵Two members of the Minnesota Twins organization have been selected to the game, and they will be on opposite sides of the diamond, as one will be on the U.S. roster and one will be on the World roster.
↵On the U.S. side, we have right-handed pitcher Kyle Gibson. The 6'6", 210-pound right-hander has spent the entire season with the Twins' AAA affiliate in Rochester, and has posted a record of just 3-7 in 14 starts in 2011 with an ERA of 3.89. Despite the lack of eye-popping numbers, Gibson is widely regarded as the Twins' top pitching prospect, and possibly the best prospect in the organization overall (at least according to our friends at Twinkie Town). He has posted a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 80-to-20 this season.
↵On the World side, the Twins have placed another pitcher in the game in Perth, Australia native Liam Hendriks. Hendriks, a 6'1", 190-pound right-hander, has spent his season with the New Britain Rock Cats, and has pitched very well, posting a record of 7-2 with a 2.81 ERA. His strikeout-to-walk ratio is 70-to-16, which is also pretty good. Twinkie Town says that Hendriks is the eighth-best prospect in the Twins' organization, and the third-highest rated pitcher behind Gibson and Alex Wimmers.
↵Congratulations to both Gibson and Hendriks on their selections.