8
2012
Flores and Wheeler Rep The Mets As US Wins Futures Game 17-5
An article by 
2012 Futures Game: Tommy Joseph slides in ahead of the tag by Wilmer Flores in a bang-bang play at third.
The 2012 Major League Baseball All-Star festivities kicked off in Kansas City on Sunday night in the form of the 14th annual Sirius XM All-Star Futures Game. Both representatives chosen for the game from the Mets organization hail from the Double A Binghamton Mets. Infielder Wilmer Flores, making his second appearance in the annual game, and top pitching prospect Zack Wheeler, making his first trip, actually played for opposite teams in the World Futures versus US Futures setup.
Flores started at third base for the World team, managed by ex-New York Yankee Bernie Williams. He played until the bottom of the fifth inning when he was replaced by Carlos Sanchez.
Flores’ first at bat came in the top of the second inning, and at bat in which he faced fellow Eastern League prospect Gerrit Cole, a member of the Altoona Curve. Flores grounded out in the at bat, third baseman Mike Olt to Team USA’s first baseman Jonathan Singleton.
At bat number two for Flores came in the top of the third inning. In this at bat, Flores faced Danny Hultzen, a left handed pitcher from the Seattle Mariners organization currently playing for the Triple A Tacoma Rainiers in the Pacific Coast League. Mike Olt would figure in the put out for this at bat as well as Flores hit a soft liner to the third baseman which he easily caught.
In the field, Flores figured in one play over his four innings, throwing out Kansas City prospect Wil Myers in the first inning.
Zack Wheeler was originally slated to pitch the ninth inning for George Brett’s Team USA, but actually was brought in to finish out the eighth inning and throw to one batter in the top of the ninth.
The first batter Wheeler faced was Jesus Aguilar, currently a member of the Carolina Mudcats in the Carolina League, Single A Advanced affiliate of the Cleveland Indians. Wheeler threw three pitches to Aguilar, a 98 MPH fastball for a called strike, an 88 MPH slider for a swinging strike, and the third pitch, an 80 MPH curveball, was hit to center fielder Wil Myers for the third out of the inning.
The second and final batter Wheeler faced was Oswaldo Arcia who plays for Eastern League rival New Britain. Wheeler threw four straight fastballs to Arcia which registered 95, 97, 90, and 97 MPH respectively. After two balls and one foul, Arcia put the ball into play grounding out third to first.
At game’s end, bragging rights belong to Wheeler over Flores as the U.S. Futures defeated the World Futures by a score of 17-5.
The U.S. has now won eight Futures Games, while the World Team has taken six.
About the Author: Tim Burns
A Mets fan since birth, a Binghamton Mets fan since he watched them put the first shovel in the dirt in 1991 at Henry and Fayette Streets and every season since then, Tim is a vehement supporter - and at times defender - of Binghamton and his hometown team. From the days of Isringhausen, Pulsipher, and Wilson, to Reyes and Wright, all the way to present day den Dekker, Wheeler, and McHugh, he remembers when and is proud of all those that have graduated from the ballpark formerly known as Binghamton Municipal Stadium! Let's Go (B)Mets!
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NL East Standings
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Braves | 42 | 30 | .583 | - |
| Phillies | 35 | 37 | .486 | 7.0 |
| Nationals | 34 | 36 | .486 | 7.0 |
| Mets | 27 | 40 | .403 | 12.5 |
| Marlins | 22 | 48 | .314 | 19.0 |
Last updated: 06/19/2013
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“Wheeler threw three pitches to Aguilar, a 98 MPH fastball for a called strike, an 88 MPH slider for a swinging strike, and the third pitch, an 80 MPH curveball, was hit to center fielder Wil Myers for the third out of the inning.”
When I read this part of your post Tim I couldn’t help to think of a quote from Wheeler that I just read not 15 minutes prior to reading your post.
Here is a quote from Wheeler.
“I’ve been trying to pound the strike zone early and get outs in three pitches or less, and I’ve been doing a lot of that this year. It allows you to go deeper in games, keeps your pitch count down. Second, third time through the lineup, you can spin a couple of breaking balls in there early in the count and they don’t know what to do. So it’s a little easier.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/09/sports/baseball/mets-prospect-zach-wheeler-focuses-on-progress.html
Wheeler was lights out and threw some great pitches in this game, albeit only seven of them, but I think the rest of the baseball world got a taste of what the rest of us have known for a while now – he’ll keep progressing and turn into quite a major league pitcher someday (soon).
It’s Mike Olt, not Ott.
Sorry Matt, I knew that, just got to typing to fast. I’ll make the change.
Nice recap. Our boys didnt really shine but at least we had two players in the game as opposed to just one for the Phillies and he fave up a three run bomb!
Personally, I cannot wait to see these two in the Big League orange and blue! Wheeler is looking like he will be the dominant ace of our future, and Flores is looking more and more like a future threat from the middle of our batting order. The only question with Flores is, where will he play? Well, our minor league system is trying him out at a multitude of infield positions. He recently started making starts at 2B. When he is ready to come up in a year or two, I say start him at SS over Tejada for a few years until Cecchini is ready then move him to 2B. If the kid can’t play second, I have another off-the-wall idea. Let’s just say (for the sake of argument) that Ike Davis doesn’t pan out quite as well as planned and he keeps having years like this year. How about moving Flores to 3B and moving Wright to 1B? It may keep David healthier which will keep our line-up potent. Either way, we have to find a solution and get Flores’ big bat in the order.