Frederick, MD – Frederick Keys infielders Manny Machado and Jonathan Schoop have been selected to represent the Baltimore Orioles in the 2011 Futures Game in Phoenix, Arizona on July 10th. Machado (Hialeah, FL) will play for Team USA and Schoop (Willemstad, Curacao) will play for Team World. The Keys duo are the lone Orioles minor leaguers participating in the event.
Machado is rated by Baseball America as the Orioles top prospect and is the youngest player in the Carolina league at the age of 18. The highest drafted position player in Frederick Keys history was taken third overall in the 2010 draft after batting .639 in his senior year at Brito Miami Private High. In 2011, Machado has played 38 games with Class-A Delmarva batting .276 with six home runs and 24 RBI’s.
Schoop is the second youngest player in the Carolina League at age 19 after batting .316 in 51 games with Class-A Delmarva. Schoop received his promotion to Frederick on June 5th and has hit .302 in 15 games. The game runs in the family as Jonathan’s brother Sharlon is a Double-A infielder in the San Francisco Giants organization.
Machado and Schoop are the 10th and 11th Keys to ever participate in the Futures Game. Other current big league players who have are Erik Bedard (2001), Jim Johnson (2005), Nolan Reimold (2006) and Jake Arrieta (2008).
The Frederick Keys are playoff bound in 2011 after winning the First-Half Northern Division Championship for the second consecutive year. Head out to Harry Grove Stadium for start of the second-half of the 2011 campaign on Thursday, June 23rd when the Keys host the Winston-Salem Dash. For tickets, contact the Keys Box Office at 1-877-8-GO-KEYS or purchase online at www.frederickkeys.com.
