OAKLAND -- Less than a year after appearing in the showcase game for baseball's top prospects last summer at Yankee Stadium, right-hander Trevor Cahill and lefty Brett Anderson are very much a part of the present for the 2009 A's.
Both 21 years old, they claimed spots in the starting rotation in their first trip to big league Spring Training.
Both 21 years old, they claimed spots in the starting rotation in their first trip to big league Spring Training.
Also at camp with the big boys for the first time this spring were second baseman Jemile Weeks and first baseman Chris Carter, who were announced Thursday as Oakland's representatives in this year's showcase.
The 11th annual XM All-Star Futures Game, pitting the best Minor League prospects from the United States against the best from the rest of the World, will be held at Busch Stadium in St. Louis on All-Star Sunday, July 12, at 11 a.m. PT. MLB.com will provide complete coverage before, during and after the game, which can be seen live on ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD and followed live on Gameday.
Weeks, 22, was selected by the A's in the first round (12th overall) of last June's First-Year Player Draft out of the University of Miami. He batted .297 with a .422 on-base percentage in 19 games with Low-A Kane County last season before suffering a season-ending hip injury the forced him to stay behind for extra work at extended Spring Training this year.
Assigned to High-A Stockton once cleared to play, Weeks was batting .395 with six homers, 19 RBIs and a .489 OBP in 19 games for the Ports through Wednesday.
Also 22, Carter was a 15th-round pick of the White Sox in 2005, traded to the D-backs on Dec. 3, 2007, then flipped to the A's 11 days later as part of the deal that sent Dan Haren to Arizona.
A 6-foot-4 slugger, Carter was named Oakland's 2008 Organizational Player of the Year after batting .259 with 39 home runs and 104 RBIs in 137 games for Stockton. Only one player in the Minors hit more homers than Carter, who led all Minor Leaguers with 75 extra-base hits and 288 total bases.
A 6-foot-4 slugger, Carter was named Oakland's 2008 Organizational Player of the Year after batting .259 with 39 home runs and 104 RBIs in 137 games for Stockton. Only one player in the Minors hit more homers than Carter, who led all Minor Leaguers with 75 extra-base hits and 288 total bases.
Assigned to Double-A Midland to start the season, Carter was batting .295 with 10 homers, 23 doubles, 49 RBIs, a .400 OBP and a Texas League-high 57 runs in 70 games through Tuesday for the RockHounds.
Weeks and Carter will suit up for the U.S. Team in St. Louis; Weeks is from Florida and Carter is from Nevada.
Mychael Urban is a national writer for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
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