MLB All-Star Weekend: Players to watch in the Futures Game - ESPN

MLB All-Star Week festivities kick off Saturday with the MLB Futures Game in Arlington, Texas. This showcase of young players from across the sport is a great place for more casual fans to see the top prospects in baseball. The diehards — and those who work in the industry — use it as a check-in to see if they have missed any risers or fallers in the first half of the minor league season.

If you're looking for those to pay particular attention to this year, these are the baker's dozen prospects whom I'm most excited to see in this year's game (breakout Phillies shortstop Aidan Miller doesn't make the list only because I already tracked him down earlier this spring in Florida).

Noah Schultz, LHP, Chicago White Sox

Schultz is the second-best pitching prospect in the minor leagues, just behind Detroit's Jackson Jobe. That alone is enough to get onto this list — the Futures Game is often a pitching-focused showcase — but Schultz is fascinating for plenty of reasons. He's 6-foot-9 and slings plus stuff from a low slot, a delivery that would make casual fans blurt out names like Chris Sale, Madison Bumgarner or Garrett Crochet. There aren't many precedents for this kind of talent.

Samuel Basallo, C, Baltimore Orioles
Xavier Isaac, 1B, Tampa Bay Rays
Spencer Jones, CF/RF, New York Yankees

Starting with a player making headlines in the majors, let's rank baseball's next wave of future stars.

Kiley McDaniel »

Want to see some big dudes hit the ball really far? These three all have plus-plus raw power from the left side, fit comfortably on a top-100 list and should debut in the next 12 months. Batting practice displays at this game can sometimes be a bit ridiculous (they might sneak a few Titleists in), but these guys will