Top Guardians Prospects Selected to Compete at 2026 All-Star Futures Game
Top Guardians Prospects Selected to Compete at 2026 All-Star Futures Game
The Cleveland Guardians will see prospects Ralphy Velazquez and Cooper Ingle compete for the organization at this year's Futures game. Cade Cracas|
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Cleveland GuardiansThe Cleveland Guardians will have representation at this year's All-Star Futures Game.
Following a remarkable start to the 2026 campaign, prospects Cooper Ingle and Ralphy Velazquez were announced as selections for the Futures Game on Wednesday, July 1. This year's celebration of some of baseball's best youngsters will take place at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, with the date set for Sunday, July 12th, at 12:00 p.m. EST.
It will be a seven-inning contest in American League vs. National League format, which was introduced back in 2019, according to MLB's official press release.
The #Guardians have announced that prospects Ralphy Velazquez and Cooper Ingle have been selected to participate in the 2026 All-Star Futures Game Presented by Nike.
This year's event will take place at 12:00 p.m. EST on Sunday, July 12th, at Citizens Bank Park.#GuardsBall— Cade Cracas (@CracasCade) July 1, 2026
Fortunately, such a recognition has paid off for many players in seasons past. Roughly 21% of players who compete at the Futures Game have gone on to play in at least one Major League All-Star game, while 86.8% have gone on to at least play in one Major League outing.
Both Ingle and Velazquez have been standing out all season long down in Cleveland's farm system, with Velazquez earning a promotion to Triple-A Columbus and Ingle being given a shot in The Show, recently.
Due to Ingle's call-up, he is ineligible to compete; however, his recognition was still made in the release by MLB.
That means Velazquez will be Cleveland's sole representation, as long as Ingle isn't demoted back down to Columbus.
So far, it looks like the Guardians will continue giving Ingle, the organization's No. 3 prospect, time to develop in the big leagues, with him already appearing in four games and recording 11 at-bats. He currently has one hit, two RBI and three walks drawn.
While he hasn't impressed much yet, he has shown signs that with more experience, he could round out to be a nice middle-of-the-lineup hitter.
The organization's No. 1 prospect according to the pipeline, Velazquez, on the other hand, hasn't reached the highest level of the game just yet.
Across 31 Triple-A outings, he has a .273/.353/.397 slashing line for an OPS of .750. With seven doubles, one triple and two home runs, contributing 10 RBI along the way, he has shown very little dip in production from Double-A.
In Akron at the beginning of the season, the 21-year-old was torching opposing squads. He had smacked nine doubles, three triples and seven home runs for 30 RBI across 36 games. He held a .980 OPS with 22 walks to 31 strikeouts, demonstrating both a keen eye and power at the plate.
Like Ingle obviously did, Velazquez has put his name on the map as a future addition to the Guardians' major league roster.
And with him getting a shot to put his name out on a big stage like All-Star weekend, the rest of the baseball world will get to know just how many gems are in Cleveland's farm system.
Published 22 minutes ago
CADE CRACASCade Cracas is a sports media professional with experience in play-by-play, broadcasting and digital storytelling. He is a recent graduate of Ashland University with degrees in digital media production and journalism.
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Sydney Sweeney Struts in Micro Shorts in New 4th of July American Eagle Campaign After Controversy
Sydney Sweeney is back and better than ever in a new American Eagle ad.
Sweeney, 28, stunned in an all-denim look while posing on the beach for a 4th of July campaign, which launched on Wednesday, July 1. The Euphoria star rocked a denim Bow-Front Vest, which retails for $54.95, featuring adjustable halter straps, a plunging neckline and straps that tie in the front.
Sweeney paired the look with low-rise Micro Shorts ($49.95), which were complete with a dark wash and distressed finish.
For glam, the Anyone But You star stunned with dewy skin, sun-kissed cheeks, long lashes and lined, pink lips. Her blonde bob was parted down the middle and styled in beachy waves.
In one pic, the It Girl closed her eyes and beamed for the camera while sitting in the sand. She also looked over her shoulder in another pic, with her hands in the back pockets of her cheeky bottoms.
Sweeney also looked her best in a promotional video. In the clip, she danced on the beach while lighting sparklers. “Syd for Short,” a message across the screen read.
This isn’t the first time Sweeney has posed for American Eagle. In July 2025, she went under fire for modeling a denim jacket and pants with the double entendre, “Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans.”
The statement quickly sparked debate about race and beauty standards for the double play on “genes.”
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Related: Sydney Sweeney Stuns in 2nd American Eagle Campaign Following Controversy
Sydney Sweeney has teamed up with American Eagle again for a sexy summer campaign following her previously controversial ad with the company. Sweeney, 28, posed for the brand’s “Syd for Short: American Eagle Jean Shorts” ad, which launched on Wednesday, April 15. In the campaign, the Euphoria actress looked her best in a pair of […]American Eagle responded to the backlash in August 2025, writing via Instagram, “‘Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans’ is and always was about the jeans. Her jeans. Her story. We’ll continue to celebrate how everyone wears their AE jeans with confidence, their way. Great jeans look good on everyone.”
At the time, a source exclusively told Us Weekly that “Sydney thinks this whole thing has been blown out of proportion.”
The insider added, “She’s focusing her energy on work, including being back on set with her Euphoria family.” (The Euphoria season 3 finale aired on May 31.)
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Trump's Annual Earnings Skyrocketed to $2.2 Billion in 2025 ... for Some Reason
July 1, 2026
Making money is hard. Just ask Donald Trump. Back in 2022, House Democrats released years of the then-former and now-current president’s tax returns, which showed that Trump the entrepreneur was significantly less successful than The Art of the Deal would have you believe. They painted a picture of a floundering businessman who was doing his best to dodge taxes and scrape together income, something Trump mastered throughout his long career.
But now, it appears that Trump has finally found an industry that works: open corruption, crypto scams, and nepotistic crony capitalism that siphons off wealth, rakes in gifts, and feeds them into his personal coffers. He just needed to become president of the United States.
Trump revealed in financial disclosures this week that he has made $2.2 billion in 2025, up from $622 million in 2024, the year before he returned to the White House. The astronomical sum includes a diverse portfolio of investments and businesses, but is mostly comprised of one brazen cryptocurrency scam: World Liberty Financial, a crypto company that offers the $TRUMP memecoin. Trump made a staggering $1.4 billion on crypto last year, fueled both by getting his supporters to buy into $TRUMP and a massive private deal in which a UAE-linked investment firm paid almost $500 million for a 49 percent stake in World Liberty Financial.
But let’s break down what that means in simple terms. One: Trump sells a memecoin to his followers, using his personal social media channels to boost it. This is basically the same scam Trump has been running for years. If you’ve been on his mailing lists since 2016, you’ve been inundated with ads for physical Trump coins, digital trading cards, and all sorts of commemorative and allegedly collectible memorabilia. Crypto is essentially the same grift, with the added flavor that Trump can pass it off as an “investment” opportunity, something that may pay dividends for the everyday Americans who are duped into buying it. Trump has also taken a host of actions benefiting the crypto industry — and thus, his and his family’s finances — since retaking office, while touting the industry publicly.
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Trump claims that he isn’t “involved” in the running of these businesses, which is about as flimsy of an excuse as you can get. “We have funds that run that money,” he told reporters on Wednesday.
Q: Your financial disclosure shows you had a very lucrative year last year. What message does this send to average Americans?
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 1, 2026
TRUMP: Well, you know, I don't get involved. We have funds that run my money
Q: But you are benefitting. We're talking billions of dollars
TRUMP: Well… pic.twitter.com/y0CVPXc4NB
In reality, Trump and his family are the only ones getting rich. But it’s the other half of that windfall that’s even more concerning. While garden-variety crypto-grift is bad, the dark money investment in a Trump-owned company by a firm that is linked to the government of the UAE suggests that foreign influence could be playing a large role in the growth of Trump’s personal fortune. In other words, he’s basically getting a payout from the government of another nation.
This isn’t the first time Trump has engaged in open corruption with members of a foreign nation. His comments about his financial disclosure on Wednesday came on the tarmac in front of his new private plane, also known as Air Force One, which was paid for and gifted to him by the Qatari government, and retrofitted with hundreds of millions of taxpayer money.
“You want a Pulitzer Prize? A picture of the plane.” Trump joked.
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Trump took his first flight on the Qatari-gifted jet shortly after. “Frankly, we couldn’t build a plane like this because we wouldn’t be willing to spend the kind of money necessary,” Trump said. “They spent top dollars.”
The plane is valued at roughly $400 million. The government will not retain ownership of the plan after Trump leaves office. It will instead be gifted to his presidential library.
