Futures Game gives a Diamondback his turn in limelight

Paul White | USA TODAY Sports

NEW YORK — Matt Davidson said, "I have no words for that," when the Hall of Fame asked for his helmet and batting gloves.

As for the request for the rest of his equipment to be shipped to Arizona, the Diamondbacks' powerful third base prospect said he could only hope general manager Kevin Towers was watching.

Davidson was chosen MVP of Sunday's All-Star Futures Game after his line-drive, two-run homer to center field put the USA ahead to stay in a 4-2 victory against the World team.

"As you get older, you kind of figure out what your game is," says Davidson, a 22-year-old on his way to a third consecutive 20-homer minor league season. He has 14 so far for Class AAA Reno, where he'll return Monday to take part in the Triple-A All-Star Game home run derby.

"I'm going to continue that approach," Davidson said.

But that approach also includes 100 strikeouts so far this season, the most in the Pacific Coast League and a number he's topped in all of his four full seasons in the minors.

And even if Towers was watching, he's the GM who remade the Diamondbacks this past offseason to reduce the power-strikeout combination that he said made his team too streaky.

That's the reality of the Futures Game. Though they're all prospects, the participants are performing for their own organizations as well as the dozens of general managers and scouts who filled two lower-deck sections at Citi Field and dutifully made notes from the beginning of batting practice.

Would the Diamondbacks make room for Davidson by moving Martin Prado off third? Would they try to boost their contending status by trading him before the upcoming trade deadline?

It's not an unusual situation. For every Christian Yelich, the Marlins outfield prospect who had a single and an RBI double Sunday and whose arrival in Miami could be imminent, there's a Kolten Wong, the Cardinals second baseman who singled and stole a base in his second Futures appearance.

He's part of a bountiful St. Louis farm system that already has stocked the major league infield, including All-Star Matt Carpenter at second base.

Reminded that Cincinnati outfielder Shin-Soo Choo said after his third Futures appearance that he'd prefer to never return, Wong laughed and said, "I'll take the honor again. I'd still enjoy it."

The other player with two hits Sunday was Red Sox shortstop Xander Bogaerts. His eventual position could be third base but he's still stuck behind Jose Iglesias and Stephen Drew and possibly the recently demoted Will Middlebrooks on Boston's left-side depth chart.

But those things eventually sort themselves out. For now, the players will soak up the experience, for many their first in a major league ballpark.

"Pretty crazy," Davidson said when Hall of Fame senior director Brad Horn approached him after the game. "I don't play the game for that kind of stuff. But it makes you want to work harder."