Tonight, right-handed pitcher Seth Hernandez and outfielder Edward Florentino will represent the Pittsburgh Pirates at the All-Star Futures Game at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia.

A collection of some of the best young talent in the game, the Futures Game has hosted some eventual stars in Major League Baseball and gives the chance for prospects to boost their stock in front of a national audience.

In 2019, MLB changed the format of the Futures Game from an American team against an international team to the same format as the MLB All Star Game: National League vs American League.

Since then, ten players have represented the Pirates at the Futures Game, and that number will increase to 12 once Hernandez and Florentino take to the field for the NL. And that list has spanned all the way from draft busts to current stars in the Pirates lineup.

Before the game, I figured I’d take a look back at some of the names who have played for the Pirates in the Futures Game.

Will Craig, 2019

In the first year of the new NL vs AL format, the first baseman Craig was the only Pirates prospect to take the field in Cleveland.

A first-round pick by the Pirates back in the 2016 draft, Craig had worked his way up the minor-league ladder and was playing in Triple-A ball by the time he was named to the Futures Game.

The Wake Forest product spent the rest of the 2016 season in Short-Season West Virginia, before spending 2017 in Bradenton (back when the Marauders were a High-A affiliate), 2018 in Altoona, and started 2019 in Indianapolis. Craig was the 15th ranked prospect in Pittsburgh’s system that year, and sported a good glove with the Indians.

Craig was hit by a pitch twice in the Futures Game, once by Seattle’s Justin Dunn and once by Detroit’s Matt Manning. Craig was lifted for pinch-runner Nolan Gorman after his second hit by pitch in the fourth inning, which also chased Manning from the game. The match ended in a tie, the only non-decision of the game’s history.

Craig would make his MLB debut in 2020 and played 20 total games over the 2020 and 2021 season. He slashed .203/.261/.281 (.542 OPS) with one home run and three RBI. And yes, he made the principal mistake in that infamous Pirates-Cubs error game.