Texas Rangers Legends Enjoyed Squaring Off As MLB Futures Managers

Teammates for years, Texas Rangers legends Adrián Beltré and Michael Young enjoyed being competitive again.

Jul 13, 2024; Arlington, TX, USA; American League Future team manager Adrian Beltre laughs with former MLB player Ken Griffey Jr. during the game against the National League Future team during the Major league All-Star Futures game at Globe Life Field. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports / Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

ARLINGTON — Adrián Beltré and Michael Young have been fantastic ambassadors for the Texas Rangers and the MLB All-Star Game this week, right down to leading Saturday's AL and NL MLB Futures game at Globe Life Field.

The pair surrounded themselves with former Rangers on their coaching staffs, and they kidded each other during their pre-game press conference, which lasted nearly 30 minutes. Beltré talked a lot about preparing for his induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame next weekend. Young talked a lot about Beltré.

That was before the game. During? There was no doubt in either’s mind that they were there to beat the other.

“A.B. and I are both going to try — he told me he's 2-0, intends to go 3-0,” Young said. “I don't think either one of us would do this thing if, once the game started, we didn't want to win it.”

Beltré kiddingly accused his former teammate of scouting.

2 perfect frames for Emiliano Teodo in the #FuturesGame! pic.twitter.com/vWQJqfaKTQ

— Rangers Player Development (@TEXPlayerDev) July 13, 2024

“I just saw him spying on my lineup right now when we walked in,” he said.

Maybe it worked. Young and his NL Futures team beat Beltré and his AL Futures team, 6-1, on Saturday. That came despite Rangers prospect Emiliano Teodo hurling two perfect innings for the AL to start the game, a Futures Game first.

Young pulled the right strings with a lineup filled with former first-round picks, which included Philadelphia outfielder Justin Crawford, Washington outfielder Dylan Crews, Pittsburgh infielder Termarr Johnson, San Francisco infielder Bryce Eldridge and Arizona outfielder Druw Jones.

He even had San Diego catcher Ethan Salas, who signed the largest international signing bonus in history last year.

Matt Postins/Inside the Rangers

He also had the game’s MVP, Cincinnati prospect Cam Collier, whose solo home run in the third inning gave the NL the lead for good.

Before the game, Beltré and Young hadn’t had much time to talk with their players but they hoped they would get the chance to field questions during the contest.

“For those guys here, we're going to talk about that today,” Beltré said. “Not just to be a good player, but a good human being. You always want to create leaders, not only for the game; for life too.”

Young and Beltré were competitive throughout their careers, both as opponents and as teammates. They also talked about their early days as “sit in the corner and be quiet rookies,” and hoped that Saturday would give them both something to pass on to some of the top prospects in the game.

“It's one day,” Young said. “So it's hard to make big connections, but if there's one thing that we can do to talk to these kids about, when you're playing, of course, you're having fun and it's all part of it. But play to win. Show up and play to win. Everybody's going to feed off of that.”

Cam Collier slugged a homer in an MLB ballpark, received the Larry Doby Award from a #Reds great and sent his bat to Cooperstown.

Amid it all, MLB's No. 84 prospect found his family in the crowd, cheering him through a surreal afternoon: https://t.co/IUxa06KiiE pic.twitter.com/pFcszppqTI

— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) July 14, 2024