J.P. Crawford a star in waiting?

CINCINNATI - Yesterday's event was the most important to the Phillies during these All-Star festivities.

It's certainly not tomorrow night's All-Star Game, in which closer Jonathan Papelbon will be the Phillies' lone representative. The only reason Philadelphia is even represented in the 86th edition is because of the archaic rule that says each franchise must be represented - even one that already is 33 games under .500.

Furthermore, if all goes according to plan, Papelbon won't be a Phillie for much longer. Hopefully, and nobody is hoping more than Papelbon, he will be traded for some package of prospects who might actually become part of this team's future.

The future is the only thing interesting about the Phillies, and yesterday's All-Star Futures Game at Great American Ball Park was all about that.

The game featured the Top 50 prospects as determined by Baseball America in conjunction with Major League Baseball and all 30 clubs. The format is U.S.-born players against international players.

Despite talk of the Phillies' depleted minor league system, the club had the maximum of two Futures Game participants: Double A Reading Fightin Phils shortstop J.P. Crawford and Triple A Lehigh Valley IronPigs righthander Aaron Nola.

Crawford, 20, is ranked the 14th-best prospect by Baseball America and for the second consecutive year was the youngest player on the U.S. roster.

The 16th overall pick by the Phillies in the 2013 draft, Crawford singled up the middle off Class A Miami lefthander Jarlin Garcia in the third inning to drive in the U.S. team's first run and spark a three-run inning.

"To be here, to be honored to play in this game again with some of the best talent in the minor leagues, is a great honor for me," said Crawford, who went 1-for-2 in five innings in the U.S. team's 10-1 victory. He struck out in his other at-bat.

In the fifth inning, Crawford flashed his glove by leaping high and extending his reach as far as possible to snare a line drive by Boston outfield prospect Manuel Margot. The catch got a big round of applause from the sellout crowd of 43,661. Crawford also turned a doubleplay to end the inning.

Because of his age and relative inexperience, Crawford's arrival in Philadelphia won't likely happen until at least 2016, but thus far the player drafted to be the eventual heir to Jimmy Rollins is performing just as hoped.

"I don't look an ETA [estimated time of arrival] to the majors, but I think I have progressed a lot over this past year," said Crawford, who is batting .311 with 10 doubles, three triples, three homers, 23 RBI, 42 walks to just 28 strikeouts, and 39 runs scored in 60 games between Class A Clearwater and Reading.

"Defensively and offensively, I'm getting better. I've cut down on my strikeouts. I'm eliminating my errors. I feel real good about myself."

Nola, 22, was the 39th-ranked prospect, but it seems his arrival to Philadelphia is imminent - possibly as soon as the Phillies return from the All-Star break.

Drafted 10th overall last year out of Louisiana State University, the righthander is living up to his draft-day evaluation of being major league ready.

In a year since being drafted, Nola has cruised from Clearwater to Reading and now Lehigh Valley.

Nola was 7-3 with a 1.88 ERA at Reading and, since being promoted to Lehigh Valley, he is 3-0 with a 2.43 ERA in five starts. He has struck out 30 in 29 2/3 innings.

"Wherever they have me pitch is where I'll pitch," Nola said of the Phillies' plans for him. "It's their decision. I'm just going to pitch."

Unfortunately for Nola, his first experience as a professional in a major league ballpark was limited to shagging fly balls in the outfield during batting practice. Nola pitched six innings Friday and it was not prudent to have him throw again in such a short time.

"Sure, it's disappointing because of course I wanted to pitch [in the Futures Game]," he said, "but with having pitched two nights ago, that wasn't a good idea.

"Really, I'm just honored to be selected to be in the Futures Game. It's been awesome and amazing to come to Cincinnati and meet so many great young players. It's such a cool experience to feel the atmosphere in a major league park and be on a big-league field, even if it was just batting practice."

Phillies fans are rightfully disgusted with the parent team this season. At this point, they'd like to see some more minor league prospects get a shot and see if they can handle themselves in "the show" the way 2013 and 2014 Futures Game representative Maikel Franco is doing this season.

Still, both Crawford and Nola said they are comfortable with the way their careers are being managed.

"This is just the way baseball works," Crawford said. "It's the same with every team. Look at all of the young guys here . . . you have to wait your turn.

"You have to go out there every day and keep showing that you are one of the top prospects in the organization. I use it as motivation to go out each game and continue to improve so that we get the chance to show that we can do what we say we can do at the big-league level someday."

With the current state of the Phillies, that can't come soon enough.

Columns: ph.ly/Smallwood

Blog: ph.ly/DNL