Hunter Renfroe and Tayron Guerrero named to the All-Star Futures Game

San Diego, CA- San Diego Padres Top Prospects outfielder Hunter Renfroe and relief pitcher Tayron Guerrero this afternoon were selected to play in the 2014 SiriusXM All-Star Futures Game for the top prospects throughout the game.

Hunter Renfroe the Padres No. 5 prospect will represent the United States in the All-Star Futures Game and had an excellent first half for the Lake Elsinore Storm batting .295 with 16 home runs and 52 RBI’s. Renfroe lead the he California League in home runs and was named to the California League All-Star Team before being promoted to Double-A San Antonio last week.

When the San Diego Padres selected Hunter Renfroe with the 13th overall pick in the first round of the MLB draft last season the Padres hoped he would develop into the power bat the Padres desperately need and so far he’s lived up to his potential. With the way Hunter Renfroe has performed this season it was no surprise to see him prompted to Double-A San Antonio and maybe Renfroe will even be promoted to Triple-A El Paso before the end of the season.

Tayron Guerrero, 23, has been with the Padres since signing with the team out of Colombia as a non-drafted free agent in 2009. Guerrero has been dominant out of the bullpen with a 0.96 ERA and 44 strikeouts in 37 2/3 innings and was selected to the Midwest League’s All-Star game before being promoted to Lake Elsinore.

Guerrero is 6’7 with a fastball that consistently hits 100 mph, but has spent the past four seasons in Rookie Ball and Low-Single A developing his command before breaking out this seaosn.

This is the 6th straight year the Padres have had at least two prospects be selected to the  All-Star Future’s Game. If you’re wondering Padres fans why our top prospects like Austin Hedges and Rymer Liriano weren’t selected to the team, is because in order to give new prospects a chance to shine…. most prospects do not get selected to the game twice.

Austin Hedges and Yeison Asencio were named to the Future’s Game last season and Rymer Liriano was selected to the game in 2012.  In the past ten years the only Padres prospects to be named to the All-Star Future’s Game and play in the Major Leagues have been James Darnell, Reymond Fuentes, Simon Castro, Mat Latos, Luis Durango, Craig Stansberry, George Kottaras, Josh Barfield, Tim Stauffer and Khalil Greene.

Of these players only Matt Latos became an all-star major leaguer and Tim Stauffer and Khalil Greene became solid major league starters.

Unfortunately most of these players never became stars or even starting major leaguers. Drew Cumberland might be the most disappointing of all of them. Cumberland was one of the most talented shortstop prospects in the game and was on his way to becoming the Padres shortstop of the future, before he was tragically forced to retire from the game at only the age of 23 due to being diagnosed with bilateral vestibulopathy, a rare inner-ear condition which can cause blurred vision, dizziness and headaches.