Lansing Lugnuts infielders Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette are two of the three current Midwest League players on the All-Star Futures Game rosters. (Photo by Craig Wieczorkiewicz/The Midwest League Traveler)
Three current Midwest League players are on the rosters for the All-Star Futures Game to be played on Sunday, July 9, at Marlins Park in Miami.
All three players are infielders: Toronto Blue Jays prospects Bo Bichette and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. of the Lansing Lugnuts, and Tampa Bay Rays prospect Lucius Fox of the Bowling Green Hot Rods. Bichette will play for the United States team, while Guerrero and Fox will suit up for the World team.
Bichette, 18, and Guerrero, 19, are the youngest players picked for the game.
Additionally, Arizona Diamondbacks prospect Jon Duplantier was chosen for the U.S. team. He pitched for the Kane County Cougars this season until being promoted to High-A Visalia last weekend.
You can see the full rosters for both teams here.
Bichette is one of two minor-leaguers who has flirted with hitting .400 this season. He currently has a .395 batting average, having collected 104 hits in 263 at-bats in 64 games. He has nine homers, 30 doubles, 48 runs batted in, and 12 stolen bases.
Guerrero is batting .316 with five homers, 20 doubles, and 41 RBI in 66 games.
Fox is batting .280 with two homers, 11 doubles, 23 RBI, and 22 stolen bases in 63 games.
Duplantier went 6-1 with a 1.24 ERA, 78 strikeouts and 15 walks in 72.2 innings (13 games/12 starts) for the Cougars before making his High-A debut earlier this week.
Jon Duplantier was the starting pitcher for the West team in this year’s Midwest League All-Star Game. (Photo by Craig Wieczorkiewicz/The Midwest League Traveler)
The Midwest League Traveler 
Do you think that Bo Bichette will get moved up soon? He is batting .395 what else does he have to prove?
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That’s a good question I think many of us are wondering. I assume he hasn’t moved up yet because of either his young age (18) or the possibility he plays a position where there’s a logjam in the Blue Jays organization. (I’m not familiar enough with Toronto’s depth chart to know for sure offhand.) I suppose it’s also possible the Blue Jays want to give him a shot at hitting .400 for an entire season at one level. Personally, I’m surprised he’s still in the Midwest League, but will be glad he is as long as he’s here because prospects like him are good for his team and the league as a whole.
With that said, I don’t expect him to stay in the Midwest League all season, and I’m eager to see what he’ll do at the next level.
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The Dunedin Blue Jays, which is the Advanced A team for Toronto, would be the next step for Bichette. The current SS (JC Cardenas) who has the most ABs of any SS is hitting .217 with 1 HR and 15 RBI in 35 games. So I think that maybe they do not want to rush him along since he is clearly much better than JC Cardenas.
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