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          Keith Law Blog

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          Breaking down Futures Game rosters

          He was the No. 2 pick in 2012, now he's arguably the top prospect in baseball. He's Byron Buxton. Mike Janes/Four Seam Images/AP Photos
          • Keith Law, ESPN Senior WriterJun 26, 2013, 03:36 PM ET
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            • Senior baseball analyst for Insider
            • Was special asst. to Blue Jays GM
            • Wrote for Baseball Prospectus
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          The 2013 MLB Futures Game will be shown on ESPN on July 14 at 2 p.m. ET and, as usual, it's the best place for you to get quick looks at most of the minors' top prospects from both leagues and all around the world. The first official rosters were released Wednesday -- they are subject to change if any players are promoted or injured before game day -- and here's my immediate reaction to the lists. (Click here for the U.S. roster and here for World roster.)

          (Many of these players appeared on my preseason top 100 prospect ranking, which you can find here.)

          The U.S. roster

          The key names are here, led by Minnesota outfielder Byron Buxton, who was just promoted to high Class A after tearing up the Midwest League; Arizona right-hander Archie Bradley, who'll bring that mid-90s fastball and hammer curve to Citi Field; and Oakland shortstop Addison Russell, whose .259/.338/.502 line as a 19-year-old in high Class A is extremely impressive, even more so given that he played hurt for parts of April and early May.