Twenty-three. Twenty-three MLB.com Top 100 Prospects took center stage at Great American Ball Park this afternoon as the primer of the 2015 All-Star festivities, the Sirius XM Futures Game. Although there were not as many top tier prospects in this year's game as last year's because of promotions, many players that suited up today have the capability to be futures stars in the Major League Baseball.


From the start, excitement filled the Queen City as the pitching matchup featured MLB.com's fourth top prospect in baseball, Lucas Giolito of Washington, and the highest ranked player on the World squad, Minnesota's Jose Berrios. Neither would disappoint. 


Berrios, who was just recently promoted to Triple-A due to his dominance in Double-A, pitched a scoreless inning to sit down a very talented USA lineup while his counterpart Giolito would hurl two innings of two hit, no run ball. The great success from each gave all in attendance the feeling that the 2015 Futures Game would be a pitchers' dual, but that would not be the case.


After two very quiet innings, the Colorado Rockies' Raimel Tapia singled with two outs against Reds' Single-A (Advanced) star Amir Garrett. With Seattle's Ketel Marte at the dish, Tapia advanced to second on a pass ball making him the first runner from either side to be in scoring position. He would not be stranded as Marte shot a ball to right that allowed the World to get on the board first. Next was Atlanta prospect Ozzie Albies and he also singled. Marte rounded third and was heading home when the USA's Michael Conforto fielded the line drive from Albies and fired it home to gun down the Mariners' prospect for the last out of the inning. 


Initially Conforto's great play did not look to be a momentum shift as Pittsburgh's top prospect Josh Bell struck out Miami's Jarlin Garcia to begin the inning, yet he himself was able to flash his talent again, this time using a bat, with a single that jump started a big American inning of three runs, two of which came on a Kyle Schwarber (Chicago Cubs) triple and one off a J.P. Crawford (Philadelphia) single. 


The runs continued to come in the bottom of the fourth thanks to a Josh Bell two run shot to right-center field. 5-1 USA! Later in the sixth, the US continued to pound the World team after singles from Cincinnati's Kyle Waldrop and Oakland's Matt Olson. Nick Williams (Texas), RBI single! Brandon Nimmo (New York Mets), RBI single! Trevor Story (Colorado), RBI double! Trea Turner (Washington), RBI double! Turner's huge hit would be the concluder of the inning as the White Sox's Francelis Montas finally escaped.


Despite the United States obliterating their opponent, the World team had a huge opportunity to cut into the deficit in the eighth inning as Cincinnati's Yorman Rodriguez, fresh off a demotion from the Reds, walked to the plate with the bases loaded and two outs. The American pitcher was Baltimore's Zach Davies and he had experience against Rodriguez from earlier in the year since the two faced off in a Norfolk/Louisville (Triple-A) game in May. Rodriguez was 0-2 with a strikeout against Davies and today the Orioles' prospect got the best of him again by striking him out to end the threat. 


The final hit of the showcase came from none other than the talented Trea Turner as he drilled a ball to left-center and turned on the after-burners for an easy triple in the bottom of the eight. Unfortunately for the US, Turner would not score because the Dodgers' Kyle Farmer struck out swinging to St. Louis' Luis Perodomo with two outs in the inning.


Heading into the ninth, the World was defeated and demoralized and with that the case San Diego's Colin Rea sent them down in order to close the book on this year's matchup.


MLB.com Top 100 Prospects Chosen
#4     Lucas Giolito RHP (Washington)
---3-4 record with 2.76 ERA and 76 Ks in 58.2 IP (Potomac-A Adv.)
#16   J.P. Crawford SS (Philadelphia)
---.273 BA, 2 HR, 15 RBI, & 2 SB (Reading-AA)
---.392 BA, 1 HR, 8 RBI, & t SB (Clearwater-A Adv.)
#24   Mark Appel RHP (Houston)
---1-1 record with 5.87 ERA and 11 Ks in 15.1 IP (Fresno-AAA)
---5-1 record with 4.26 ERA and 49 Ks in 63.1 IP (Corpus Christi-AA)
#26   Jose Berrios RHP (Minnesota)
---0-0 record with 7.59 ERA and 12 Ks in 10.2 IP (Rochester-AAA)
---8-3 record with 3.08 ERA and 92 Ks in 90.2 IP (Chattanooga-AA)
#28   Josh Bell 1B (Pittsburgh)
---.312 BA, 4 HR, & 51 RBI (Altoona-AA)
#30   Aaron Nola RHP (Philadelphia)
---3-0 record with 2.43 ERA and 30 Ks in 29.2 IP (Lehigh Valley-AAA)
---7-3 record with 1.88 ERA and 59 Ks in 76.2 IP (Reading-AA)
***Did not play since he threw six innings Friday.
#33   Raul Mondesi SS (Kansas City)
---.258 BA, 4 HR, 22 RBI, & 7 SB (Northwest Arkansas-AA)
#38   Carl Edwards Jr. RHP (Chicago-NL)
---1-0 record with 1 save and 3.06 ERA in addition to 23 Ks in 17.2 IP (Iowa-AAA)
---2-2 record with 4 saves and 2.66 ERA in addition to 36 Ks in 23.2 IP (Tennessee-AA)
#40   Kyle Schwarber C (Chicago-NL)
***MLB Network's Most Valuable Player
---.364 BA, HR, & 6 RBI (MLB)
---.333 BA, 3 HR, & 10 RBI (Iowa-AAA)
---.320 BA, 13 HR, & 39 RBI (Tennessee-AA)
#44   Nomar Mazara OF (Texas)
---.283 BA, 10 HR, & 44 RBI (Frisco-AA)
#51   Trea Turner SS (Washington)
***Player of the Game
---.276 BA, 2 HR, 6 RBI, & 2 SB (Syracuse-AAA)
---.359 BA, 0 HR, 4 RBI, & 4 SB (Harrisburg-AA)
---.322 BA, 5 HR, 35 RBI, & 11 SB (San Antonio-AA)
#55   Sean Newcomb LHP (Los Angeles-AL)
---4-1 record with 2.94 ERA and 61 Ks in 49 IP (Inland Empire-A Adv.)
---1-0 record with 1.83 ERA and 45 Ks in 34.1 IP (Burlington-A)
#56   Aaron Judge OF (New York-AL)
---.268 BA, HR, & 7 RBI (Scranton/WB-AAA)
---.284 BA, 12 HR, & 44 RBI (Trenton-AA)
#59   Brandon Nimmo OF (New York-NL)
---.289 BA, 2 HR, & 13 RBI (Binghamton-AA)
---.125 BA, 0 HR, & 2 RBI (St. Lucie-AA)
#60   Matt Olson 1B (Oakland)
---.227 BA, 8 HR, & 38 RBI (Midland-AA)
#67   Michael Conforto OF (New York-NL)
---.312 BA, 3 HR, & 21 RBI (Binghamton-AA)
---.283 BA, 7 HR, & 28 RBI (St. Lucie-A Adv.)
#73   Orlando Arcia SS (Milwaukee)
---.313 BA, 4 HR, 46 RBI, & 12 SB (Biloxi-AA)
#76   Francelis Montas RHP (Chicago-AL)
---2-1 record with 2.47 ERA and 62 Ks in 73 IP (Birmingham-AA)
#80   Rafael Devers 3B (Boston)
---.294 BA, 7 HR, & 42 RBI (Greenville-A)
#83   Manuel Margot OF (Boston)
---.278 BA, 1 HR, 13 RBI, & 5 SB (Portland-AA)
---.282 BA, 3 HR, 17 RBI, & 20 SB (Salem-A Adv.)
#87   Alex Reyes RHP (St. Louis)
---2-5 record with 2.08 ERA and 90 Ks in 60.2 IP (Palm Beach-A Adv.)
***Did not play due to injury.
#88   Ozhaino Albies SS (Atlanta)
---.331 BA, 0 HR, 33 RBI, & 25 SB (Rome-A)
#91   Bradley Zimmer OF (Cleveland)
---.305 BA, 10 HR, 38 RBI, & 32 SB (Lynchburg-A Adv.)
#100 Blake Snell LHP (Tampa Bay)
---6-2 record with 1.70 ERA and 72 Ks in 63.2 IP (Montgomery-AA)
---3-0 record with 0.00 ERA and 27 Ks in 21 IP (Charlotte-A Adv.)