Jacob Miller was one of the true breakout stars of New Balance Baseball Future Stars Series International Week event in 2020, racking up six strikeouts against a strong World Team lineup that featured one of the current top prospects on the Cincinnati Reds, Edwin Arroyo.
He helped parlay that performance and many others into a second round selection by the Miami Marlins in 2022, going No. 46 overall, and has been on a big-league trajectory ever since. That remained evident at Friday’s Spring Breakout game against the St. Louis Cardinals, where the 20-year-old righty picked up the win with a scoreless third inning in which he racked up two strikeouts.
Tink Hence is a four-time Future Stars Series veteran (2018-19). He's No. 4 on @JoeDoyleMiLB's @Cardinals Top 30 (https://t.co/1ShsRxicnw). Here he is dominating in Friday's Spring Breakout vs. @Marlins.
Video courtesy @CardsProspects pic.twitter.com/Yeaa6p0xnB
— New Balance 𝗙𝘂𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘀 𝗦𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀 (@ftrstarsseries) March 15, 2024
He wasn’t the only FSS alum arm to have a big day in that game, however. Markevian “Tink” Hence, who was one of the standouts of both the 2019 National Tournaments and now famously-loaded 2019 International Week event, got the start for the Cardinals and was dominant, allowing just one hit while striking out three batters — he struck out the side in the second — over two innings of work while touching 97 miles per hour on the radar gun.
Mother Nature doesn’t seem to be much of a prospects fan, as the majority of Friday’s Spring Breakout slate was ultimate rained out, but the other game that was able to be played certainly had a big FSS influence.
The New York Mets and Washington Nationals squared off in a game that featured Dylan Crews, Drew Gilbert, Colin Houck and Nolan McLean. In fact, it was McLean who got the win after his days of making waves at the 2019 National Tournaments, spinning a scoreless fifth inning for the Mets in which he recorded one strikeout.
Crews and Houck were each able to get a hit during the contest, while Gilbert scored a run in the Mets 4-2 win.
