Shea Langeliers homer, Denzel Clarke catch help AL win 2022 All-Star Futures Game

The 2022 MLB All-Star Futures Game took place Saturday, featuring top prospects from all around the minor leagues. The American League won 6-4, and you can click here for the full box score.

The Oakland A’s had two players representing them this year, catcher Shea Langeliers and outfielder Denzel Clarke, and you can click here to read more about them. Both A’s prospects chipped in highlights tonight toward the AL’s victory, and one of them took home the game’s MVP award.

Langeliers started behind the plate, batting eighth in the lineup. He struck out in his first at-bat, in the 3rd inning against Giants prospect Kyle Harrison, but he got another chance soon enough. In the 4th he came up again to face Braves prospect Jared Shuster, and this time he launched a homer to left field.

Here’s another angle of the dinger. Bangeliers!

On the other side of the ball, Langeliers flashed his highly touted defense by throwing out a base stealer and blocking a ball in the dirt.

An even bigger defensive play came from his teammate Clarke. In the 7th and final inning of the game, the AL led by three runs but the NL had a runner on third with only one out. The NL hit a deep drive to right, but Clarke tracked it down and made a running catch that took him slamming into the wall.

The runner scored on the sac fly, but Clarke’s catch stopped the rally from getting any worse. If he’d missed it then the tying run would have come to the plate with one out, but instead the bases were empty with two out and a two-run lead, and the next batter was retired to end the game.

Clarke also batted twice, drawing a walk in his first trip and then striking out the next time.

After the game, Langeliers was named the Futures Game MVP, which is called the Larry Doby Award. Since its inception in 1999, this is the second time an A’s prospect has won the award, after Grant Green in 2011.

Congrats to Langeliers and Clarke on nice performances, and to Langeliers on earning some MVP hardware!