From Future Stars to Fall Stars.
The New Balance Baseball Future Stars Series is pleased to have four alumni in the upcoming prestigious Fall Stars Game, the Arizona Fall League’s annual All-Star event.
Dasan Brown, Cooper Hjerpe and Max Muncy are all expected to play in the contest, which will be broadcast on MLB Network on Sunday night. In addition, Ricky Tiedemann was also named to the game per the Toronto Blue Jays account on X.
Although his stint in the AFL has come to an end and he won’t be participating in the game itself, Tiedemann leads the way after going 2-1 with a 2.50 ERA in four starts for Surprise. He struck out 23 batters over just 18 innings of work, and is poised to potentially make his much-anticipated major-league debut during the 2024 season.
The No. 91 overall pick in the 2021 MLB Draft by the Toronto Blue Jays after appearances at International Week in 2019 and the Pre-Draft Combine shortly prior to his selection, Tiedemann is universally considered to be one of the game’s top pitching prospects, and is currently listed at No. 24 in the FSS Plus Top 100 prospects rankings.
Tiedemann’s teammate in Toronto’s system and out in Arizona, Brown is 13th among qualified hitters with a .299 batting average with Surprise this season, and is set to cap off a big, full year in which he also represented Team Canada in the World Baseball Classic alongside another FSS alum, Bo Naylor. The 2018 International Week alum is likely ticketed for Double-A New Hampshire to begin next season.
Hjerpe also earned the honors largely thanks to an impressive strikeout rate while being used exclusively out of the bullpen for Scottsdale; the St. Louis Cardinals farmhand recorded 15 of his 25 outs via the K, and limited batters to just a .167 average against over his seven outings. One of the top pitchers for NorCal at the 2018 national tournaments, Hjerpe saw just 41 innings in High-A Peoria to start his professional career due to injury, and could either start next season there, or be sent to Double-A Springfield.
An FSS regional combine attendee, Muncy is tied for 14th among all AFL hitters with 14 RBI, and has also blasted four homers for Mesa in 74 at-bats. The No. 25 overall pick of the Oakland Athletics back in 2021, Muncy split last season between High-A Lancaster and Double-A Midland, and will likely see Triple-A at some point in 2024, if not to start the year.
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