MLB Futures Game 2012: Cardinals Won't Rush Kolten Wong, Oscar Taveras To Majors

St. Louis Cardinals prospects Oscar Taveras and Kolten Wong both started in the 2012 Futures Game, but despite stellar minor league careers to-date, the St. Louis Cardinals insist that they aren't going to rush either to the majors. Cardinals farm system director John Vuch told Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that the franchise feels like they've been aggressive enough with both players, and doesn't feel the need to push them further up the ladder.

"I don't know if there's anything specific they need to do to get to Triple A,'' farm director John Vuch said. "There's not a great deal of urgency for us to move them there right now. [...] Just to get to Double-A this year (they) are one step ahead. Once you've made an aggressive move like that you don't want to be aggressive on top of aggressive."

(via St. Louis Post-Dispatch)

Taveras is hitting .322/.372/.596 with 17 homers so far in Double-A this season. Wong is hitting .310/.384/.439 with seven homers at the same level.

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Futures Game 2012: USA Scores 17 To Sink Oscar Taveras, World Team

The 2012 MLB Futures Game doesn't determine, say, who gets home-field-advantage in a future World Series, but anyone who was watching it for a look at some of baseball's best prospects had to notice just how out of hand the game beneath the parade of prospects quickly got. After falling behind early, the U.S. Futures Team poured nine runs on Ariel Pena and the World Futures squad, continuing the scoring in the seventh on their way to a 17-5 win. Detroit Tigers prospect Nick Castellanos is the MVP-by-default, going 3-4 with a home run and three RBI.

The St. Louis Cardinals' prospects were involved, if only tangentially. Kolten Wong, the U.S. team's starting second baseman, went 0-2 but scored on a three-base error precipitated by a pitcher's justified interest in what uber-speedster Billy Hamilton was doing at third base; Oscar Taveras, who played all nine innings in the outfield for the World team, went 1-3 and was run ragged on line drive after line drive into the gaps.

(If you're looking for a box score, Major League Baseball has hidden it, inexplicably, at MiLB.com.)

Futures Game 2012: Kolten Wong, USA Top World By 17-5 Score

St. Louis Cardinals fans didn't really have a dog in this minor league fight--the World team featured top prospect Oscar Taveras, who went 1-3 with a single and played some center field--but the 2012 MLB Futures Game was hardly neutral, by the time the ninth inning rolled mercifully around: Team USA dropped 17 runs on the World squad on the way to a bruising 17-5 victory (you can find the box score tucked away on MILB.com), crushing Los Angeles Angels prospect Ariel Pena for eight runs in a third of an inning in a sixth inning that seemed to never end.

The Cardinals prospect on the right side of the bludgeoning, second baseman Kolten Wong, started and went 0-2, reaching third base and eventually scoring thanks to an error caused by Cincinnati Reds super-speedster Billy Hamilton. He also turned a neat backflip, earning another year or two of Ozzie Smith-styled accolades.

The Futures Game MVP award went to USA DH (and Detroit Tigers third base prospect) Nick Castellanos, who went 3-4 with a home run and three RBI. After hitting .405 across two months of Florida State League games, Castellanos is presently playing in the AA Eastern League.

MLB Futures Game 2012: Billy Hamilton Causes Three-Base Error For Kolten Wong

MLB Futures Game 2012: Cardinals Prospect Kolten Wong Begins Minor League Showcase With Standing Backflip

2012 MLB Futures Game: Oscar Taveras, Kolten Wong Start As Minor League All-Stars

The St. Louis Cardinals send two Minor League Guys to the 2012 MLB Futures Game--Oscar Taveras and Kolten Wong will get their first All-Star Game taste.