Future Stars Series advisory board grows with four big additions

The advisory board to the New Balance Baseball Future Stars Series recently announced four significant additions, as nearly every major-league team is now represented.

Ronit Shah, Darin Vaughan, Eric Valent and Jaron Madison were unveiled as the latest members of the now-31 person board on Tuesday, bringing together a talented and unique group that includes high-ranking front-office personnel, scouts or coaches from 25 different MLB organizations, as well as highly-acclaimed prospect writer Keith Law from The Athletic.

Shah is the director of amateur scouting for the Atlanta Braves, and also has experience in the Houston Astros organization, where he began his career as a video coordinator after time with both FanGraphs and Baseball Prospectus as a writer.

Vaughan is currently an area scout with the Texas Rangers following time with both the Toronto Blue Jays, where he also served as an area scout, and as an area scouting supervisor with the Atlanta Braves.  During his time with Atlanta, he notably signed FSS alum Cole Phillips, and is currently actively involved with the Rangers Area Code team.

Valent enjoyed a lengthy, decorated playing career before moving into scouting, first with the Philadelphia Phillies, where he progressed all the way to a regional supervisor, and then with the Miami Marlins, where he’s their national scouting supervisor of amateur scouting. Lauded by FSS president and CEO Jeremy Booth as one of most engaging guys in the room, Valent, who goes back to high school with Booth, was the No. 42 overall pick in the 1998 MLB Draft by the Phillies after a standout collegiate career at UCLA, and played five big league seasons in Philly, Cincinnati as well as for the New York Mets.

Madison, currently a special assistant to the GM with the Chicago Cubs, has enjoyed both a lengthy and successful career in the game, starting with his playing days at Long Beach State.  An area scout and assistant to the director of scouting in San Diego, Madison eventually became the Padres scouting director.  He’s also been the assistant director of scouting with the St. Louis Cardinals, as well an area scout for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

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Mike Ashmore

Mike Ashmore is a veteran baseball writer. Since 2003 he has covered multiple World Series and has worked high-profile events ranging from the MLB All-Star Game to the World Baseball Classic. In addition to his role working for Future Stars Series, the New Jersey native currently serves as the beat writer of the Double-A New York Yankees affiliate, the Somerset Patriots, as well as national hockey writer and New York Jets game day beat reporter for The Trentonian. Ashmore has worked six Super Bowls, ten Stanley Cup Finals, the NBA Playoffs, College Football Playoff National Championship Game, Frozen Four, Daytona 500, major UFC events and much more as he approaches 3,000 games covered in his career.

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