As the list of alumni of the New Balance Baseball Future Stars Series both grows and improves, it’s more and more interesting to see where players we’ve helped along the way end up to start a new season.
2025 is no different, but features more big leaguers than ever before, with seven having gone from playing in FSS events to reaching the game’s highest level, with plenty more to come. While an as-complete-as-possible list will featured in this space in the coming weeks, today we take a quicker look at some more prominent alumni and where you can watch them this year.
Kyren Paris is off to a hot start with the big leagues with the Los Angeles Angels, hitting .444 with a homer and three RBI in his first five games of the season. The 23-year-old earned a spot on the big club with a huge Spring Training showing, and seems to be in “The Show” to stay; Paris made waves at International Week back in 2018 against some of the top amateur talent from around the world, displaying some of his athleticism that was near the top of his Draft class at the time.
No FSS alum has more big leagues game played in than Cleveland Guardians catcher Bo Naylor, who just reached the 200 games milestone on April 2. The Canadian-born backstop has become a cornerstone of the Guardians franchise since being drafted in 2018; he went 29th overall not long after his appearance at the inaugural International Week event in Sugar Land, where he memorably faced fellow first rounder Grayson Rodriguez, who unfortunately begins the year on the MLB IL with the Baltimore Orioles. Similarly, Drew Romo, who became the fifth FSS alum to reach the majors last year, was optioned to Triple-A Albuquerque and placed on their IL to start the season.
Dylan Crews was the sixth alum to debut, and did so to much fanfare last year with the Washington Nationals. The highest-drafted FSS player ever at No. 2 overall in 2023 behind only LSU teammate Paul Skenes, Crews begins the year back in Washington, where he looks to build off of both a solid first year in the big leagues and strong Spring Training showing.
Tyler Soderstrom and Max Muncy have been creating some new FSS firsts this season with the A’s. They became the first pair of alums to be in the same big league lineup, accomplishing the feat when Muncy became the seventh alum to debut and first this season on March 27. Both were standouts at one of our Regional Combines.
Zac Veen is considered by many to be next in line. Veen dazzled in Spring Training with the Rockies, posting an .812 OPS while smacking two homers and stealing nine bases, continuing to show he’s one of the more complete outfield prospects in all of baseball. The now-23-year-old famously starred for the Scorpions alongside Crews and Romo at our 2019 National Tournaments, and then joined Crews on the National Team at that year’s International Week event, where he homered in Pawtucket.
Taken with the 29th overall pick by the Arizona Diamondbacks last year, Slade Caldwell is set to make his pro debut in A-Ball with the Visalia Rawhide. Caldwell — alongside Nationals draft pick Sir Jamison Jones — was a late addition to the red squad at the National Combine, and earned an invite to the Main Event, but was unable to participate due to injury. He later showed out at the Showdown, participating in the inaugural FSS event in Arlington.
A consensus Top 100 prospect in all of baseball, Texas Rangers infielder Sebastian Walcott will return to Double-A Frisco to start the 2025 season. An electric shortstop who can also play third base, the Bahamas native was seen internationally by FSS, and given high marks at the time.
Robby Snelling was named the Opening Day starter for the Double-A Pensacola Blue Wahoos, continuing a rise through the game that we saw when he was named our National Tournaments MVP as a member of NorCal on a loaded team that include Henry Bolte, who will begin the year in Double-A in the A’s organization. As for Snelling, the San Diego Padres first-rounder is now a key part of a Miami Marlins pitching prospect pool, having been a key part of a return in a trade deadline deal last year.
The ninth overall pick in the 2024 MLB Draft, National Tournaments standout Konnor Griffin was assigned to Low-A Bradenton to start his pro career by the Pittsburgh Pirates on Friday. Griffin is part of a young group of prospects on their way up to help fortify a franchise that seems to be on the way up; Termarr Johnson and Anthony Solometo, also FSS alums, will start the year in Pittsburgh’s system at Double-A Altoona. Notably, Solometo still holds the International Week/Main Event strikeout record, accomplishing the feat in 2020.
Cam Collier will begin the season on the IL, needing left thumb surgery, which will only slightly derail his ascent to the big leagues. The 2024 Futures Game MVP authored many memorable moments with the Future Stars Series; the two-time Main Event invitee famously hit the “mmm hmm” homer that was immortalized in a New Balance commercial at the National Combine in 2020.
Another consensus Top 100 prospect in the game, we first saw top Seattle Mariners prospect Michael Arroyo at the 2020 World Combine, held in the Bahamas. He’s since continued to develop into one of the top infield prospects in the game, and recently showed that with an appearance for Team Colombia at the WBC Qualifying tournament. He’ll start the 2025 season back in High-A with Everett, where a promotion to Double-A would seem imminent.
Speaking of the World Baseball Classic, National Tournaments and International Week star Dasan Brown is plenty familiar with the event, having played alongside Naylor for Team Canada at the most recent WBC. A champion in both MiLB and in the Arizona Fall League, the speedy, athletic outfielder begins the year with the Double-A New Hampshire Fisher Cats in the Toronto Blue Jays system.
Petey Halpin made his Triple-A debut in the Guardians organization this year as a member of the Columbus Clippers, where he looks to take a big jump this season and make his big-league debut. Halpin impressed with his ability to get on base during the 2019 International Week event at Fenway Park, and continues to do so as the outfielder makes a steady climb through the Cleveland system. Franco Aleman and Daniel Espino both open the year on the IL, with the latter unlikely to see game action until the summer after coming off a shoulder and rotator cuff procedure.
A one-time Futures Game starter and three-time International Week participant, Mick Abel begins 2025 one step away from the majors at Triple-A Lehigh Valley. The 15th overall pick in the 2020 MLB Draft by the Philadelphia Phillies, Abel struggled at times last year, but at 23 years old, still shows tremendous upside and remains a big part of the Philly’s future plans.
Ricky Tiedemann will likely miss all of 2025 after undergoing Tommy John surgery last year. Another standout of the unfathomably loaded 2019 International Week event, as well as the 2020 Pre-Draft Combine, Tiedemann was on the cusp of debuting in the big leagues with the Toronto Blue Jays, having made four starts at Triple-A Buffalo, before going down with the injury.
Another consensus Top 100 prospect, Tink Hence will unfortunately begin his year on the 60-Day MiLB IL in Triple-A Louisville due to a rib cage strain. Prior to that, the 2019 National Tournaments and International Week star had racked up 303 K’s in the minors in just 236 innings.
Milwaukee Brewers farmhands Cooper Pratt and Blake Burke will open in Double-A Biloxi and High-A Wisconsin, respectively. Pratt’s 2022 Main Event homer helped put him on the map before Milwaukee essentially stole him out of his Ole Miss commitment with a sixth-round selection the following year; Pratt’s younger brothers, Quincy and Jett, won our National Tournaments this past year in Nashville with BPA as well. Burke put on a huge power display during his BP rounds at the 2020 National Combine and was set to attend that year’s International Week event before a late illness kept him out.
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 the Future Stars Series that he's held since 2017, Ashmore 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.
A regular contributor to Baseball America, Ashmore has worked seven Super Bowls, 11 Stanley Cup Finals, the 4 Nations Face-Off, the NBA Playoffs, College Football Playoff National Championship Game, Frozen Four, Daytona 500, major UFC events and much more as he approaches 3,200 games covered in his career.
An avid card collector and sim racer, he lives with his wife, Sarah, their son William, and their beloved dog, Bailey, and cat, Smokey.
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