2012 Futures Game Roster: Prospects That Will Be Dominating MLB Soon Enough

Appropriately, much of the Futures Game roster will make the MLB All-Star roster in a few years. Both teams are loaded with promising young talent. It may be the first time you hear their names, but it likely won’t be the last.

Here are the top five prospects that’ll participate in the exhibition contest. They all happen to play on the U.S. team, but you can find complete rosters at MLB.com.

5. Gerrit Cole (P, Pittsburgh Pirates)

Pittsburgh fans have to be pumped about their baseball club being legitimate playoff contenders this season. They should be even more excited about the prospects in the Futures Game because their pair of pitchers has a chance to take them to a level beyond the one they’ve climbed.

Gerrit Cole, Pittsburgh’s first-overall selection in 2011, will be part of that next step. He’s currently on the Pirates’ Double-A team and has an ERA of 2.86 this year. It’s only a matter of time before Cole joins their already impressive rotation in the majors.

4. Wil Myers (OF, Kansas City Royals)

Myers is one of the top positional players in all the minor leagues. KC got a major steal when they drafted him in the third round back in 2009.

In 48 games this season for the Royals’ Triple-A club, Myers has hit .315, 14 home runs and 42 RBI. Kansas City hasn’t exactly gotten off to an ideal start in their 2012 campaign at 37-47, so Myers call to the big leagues could be sooner rather than later.

3. Dylan Bundy (P, Baltimore Orioles)

Like the Pirates, Baltimore has multiple big-name prospects playing in the Futures game as well. Also like the Pirates, they’re off to an unexpected impressive start and have to be optimistic about the future. Bundy should make fans even more optimistic on Sunday.

Baltimore selected him fourth overall in the 2011 draft. The 19-year-old is currently playing on their Single-A advanced squad and has been solid. In 62.2 innings pitched in 2012, Bundy has recorded 74 strikeouts and an ERA of 1.87.

2. Jameson Taillon (P, Pittsburgh Pirates)

Pittsburgh’s second prospect to watch was drafted by the club second overall back in 2010. At 6’6”, 225 pounds, Taillon has the physical ability to be a force at the next level.

On the Pirates advanced Single-A team, Taillon's stats haven’t been jaw-dropping with a 4.05 ERA, but he’s recorded 73 strikeouts as well. Pittsburgh also has him on an extremely short leash, only allowing him to pitch an average of just over five innings a game.

1. Manny Machado (SS, Baltimore Orioles)

Machado is the best position player not in the majors by far. He’s a future stud and Orioles fans should be on the edge of their seat watching him in the Futures game.

According to Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com, Machado finished the 2011 season with a 4.56 range factor. That mark would’ve been the fifth highest among shortstops in the majors and only 0.28 behind the league leader in Troy Tulowitzki.

He was drafted third overall back in 2010 and it won’t be long before he’s manning short at the next level.

David Daniels is a featured columnist at Bleacher Report and a syndicated writer.

Follow @TheRealDDaniels