Pair Of Tigers Pitching Prospects To Play In Futures Game Today
MIAMI, Fla. - If you've given up on the Tigers this year but still need your baseball fix then you'll want to tune in today for the 2017 SiriusXM All-Star Futures Game that features two Detroit prospects.
Detroit Tigers RHP prospect Beau Burrows and LHP prospect Jairo Labourt have each been selected to participate in this year's Futures Game in Miami. The game is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. and can be seen on MLB Network.
If you're not up to date on the Futures Game then here's a refresher -- it's an exhibition that tries to put the best prospects from the United States against the best prospects from the rest of the world. There are other factors that go into the selection decision of who participates with the league, the teams, MLB.com and Baseball America helping choose the teams.
Burrows will play for the U.S. Team while Labourt will play for the World Team.
According to MLB.com, Burrows is the listed as the Tigers' third best prospect and Labourt is ranked as the club's 19th best prospect. Both Burrows and Labourt are currently playing for the Tigers' Double-A affiliate, Erie Seawolves.
Burrows started the season with Class-A Lakeland before being promoted to Double-A ball in June. Between the two levels Burrows is 6-5 with a 2.67 ERA in 17 starts this season. He was drafted by the Tigers in the first round of 2015 MLB Draft.
For Labourt this will be his second appearance in the Futures Game. He threw one scoreless inning during 2015's Futures Game in Cincinnati. Like Burrows, Labourt began the season with Class-A Lakeland before being promoted to Erie. He is 1-1 with a 2.03 ERA in 29 appearances this year.
There is no guarantee either guy will play in Sunday's Futures Game, but odds are both will get into the game at some point. Burrows last pitched on Tuesday and Labourt pitched one inning on Friday.
Only time will tell if either Burrows or Labourt make it up to the big leagues but Sunday will provide at least a snapshot of each guy for fans looking toward the future.