Back To The Future: Kansas City's History In The MLB All-Star Futures Game

With Thursday's news that the Kansas City Royals had a trio of prospects selected for the 2012 MLB Futures Game during All-Star weekend at Kauffman Stadium, I decided to go back and look up the list of players who have previously been selected in the 14-year history of the game.

Currently, there are 11 players who are on Kansas City's major league roster who played in the Futures Game previously, including both Danny Duffy and Chris Getz who are on the disabled list. It's not a big surprise, given the young talent on the squad, but many casual fans may not realize that even Yuinesky Betancourt played in the game back in 2005 as a member of the Seattle Mariners organization.

In total the Royals have now had 18 players selected for the game, including first year players Jake Odorizzi and Yordano Ventura, who will be joining Wil Myers in his second appearance.

I remembered all the names on the list, however Geof Tomlinson struck me a surprise as I didn't recall him being selected to play in the first Futures Game back in 1999 in Boston. Obviously by seeing names such as his and Jeff Austin, you realize the Futures Game isn't always an indicator of future stardom. However many of baseball's current elite have taken part in the game.

The Royals are actually the only franchise with two different MVP's of the game, with Justin Huber taking the honors in 2005 and Billy Butler following that up in 2006 by doing the same. Huber will most likely being remembered around Kansas City for being the player the Royals traded Jose Bautista to the Mets for. Bautista would immediately be shipped again to the Pittsburgh Pirates before going on to the Toronto Blue Jays and becoming the great player we know today.

Look for more continued All-Star game coverage in coming weeks, and also head on over to Royals Review for Kansas City news and notes as well.

Appeared in the Futures Game as a member of the Royals organization

Jeff Austin

Angel Berrora

Andres Blanco

Billy Butler

Danny Duffy

Alex Gordon

Ruben Gotay

Zack Greinke

Kelvin Herrera

Luke Hochevar

Eric Hosmer

Justin Huber

Mike Moustakas

Wil Myers

Julio Pimental

Geof Tomlinson

Current Royals who played in the Futures Game with previous organizations

Yuniesky Betancourt

Alcides Escobar

Jeff Francoeur

Chris Getz

Former Royals who played in the Futures Game as members of other organizations, prior to joining the Royals

Joaquin Arias

Rick Ankiel

Denny Bautista

Wilson Betemit

John Buck

Melky Cabrera

Juan Cruz

Bryan Bullington

Anthony Lerew

Calvin Pickering

Kevin Pucetas

Brad Thompson

Kip Wells