Mariners' stars of past lead way to Futures Game

When the All-Star Game returns to the Emerald City for the first time in 22 years this July, it will have a distinctive Seattle flavor.

Major League Baseball announced on Wednesday that a pair of former Mariners will manage the SiriusXM All-Star Futures Game, with Harold Reynolds leading the AL team and Raul Ibañez coaching the NL side.

The fan-favorite Mariners will oversee this annual showcase between the Minor Leagues’ most promising prospects, which will take place on Saturday, July 8, at 7 p.m. ET. The Futures Game rosters will be announced in the coming weeks.

Reynolds played his first 10 seasons with the Mariners and earned All-Star appearances in 1987 and '88. The Pacific Northwest native led the AL with 60 steals in 1987 and 11 triples in 1988 and also went on to win three Gold Glove Awards at second base.

Ibañez spent 11 seasons across three stints with Seattle and ranks eighth on the franchise leaderboard with 156 home runs. The outfielder went on to earn an All-Star nod in 2009 with the Phillies and is one of 155 Major Leaguers to hit at least 300 career long balls.

The two managers have been active in baseball since their respective retirements. Reynolds has been a broadcaster since 1996 and took over as a lead analyst for MLB Network when the network began in 2009. Ibañez, meanwhile, worked for four years as a special assistant for the Dodgers and has been MLB’s senior vice president of on-field operations since February 2021.

This will be the fourth season that the Futures Game is playing under an AL-NL format after two decades of dividing the top prospects between the U.S. and the World. Barring another tie in this seven-inning exhibition, the winner will take the lead in the all-time series, which has been split 1-1-1 since 2019.