LuJames Groover Named to 2025 MLB All-Star Futures Game Roster
June 30, 2025 - Texas League (TL)
Amarillo Sod Poodles News Release
AMARILLO, TX - Major League Baseball today announced that Amarillo Sod Poodles infielder LuJames Groover was selected to the 2025 MLB All-Star Futures Game roster, taking place during MLB All-Star Week in Atlanta. Ranked as Arizona's number 10 prospect (per MLB Pipeline), Groover will make the trip to the Peach State to represent the Diamondbacks farm for this year's version of the contest.
The 26th edition of the Futures Game will be played at 4:00 p.m. (ET) on Saturday, July 12th at Truist Park in Atlanta, and will be followed by the 2025 All-Star Celebrity Softball Game presented by Geico. The game, which is scheduled for seven innings, will once again feature a National League vs. American League format. Major League Baseball, in conjunction with MLB Pipeline, Baseball America and the 30 Major League Clubs, selected the 25 players named to each team. Each Major League organization is represented and players from all player development leagues were eligible to be selected.
A member of Amarillo's 2025 Opening Day roster, Groover has been a staple in the starting lineup for the Sod Poodles, appearing in 67 games this season. He ranks among top Texas League talent this year in multiple offensive categories, including hits (2nd, 78), batting (2nd, .301), slugging (4th, .471), OPS (5th, .848), and home runs (t-6th, 10). In the Diamondbacks Minor League system, he ranks third in hits and is one of seven Arizona farmhands to hit the double-digit mark in home runs this year.
Anchoring the hot corner this season, Groover started off the season strong, rattling off an eight-game hitting streak as Amarillo's third baseman, batting at a .371 (13-for-35) clip with four multi-hit efforts over that span. A second round pick by the Diamondbacks out of North Carolina State University in 2023, he launched two home runs in game two of a doubleheader on April 26 at home against San Antonio. He is also only one of two Sod Poodles this year to reach base five times in a game and the only Texas League batter to do it in two separate contests with both instances occurring in the same week (June 22, June 27).
A native Georgian, he becomes the sixth Sod Poodle to make the Futures Game roster, joining Adrian Morejon (LHP, 2019), Alek Thomas (OF, 2021), Corbin Carroll (OF, 2022), Jordan Lawlar (INF, 2023), and Ryan Bliss (INF, 2023). All four position players to take part in the Futures game in their respective years were etched into the starting lineup for that year's edition of the game.
Groover will be joined by Slade Caldwell as the representatives from the Arizona Diamondbacks organization for the game. Caldwell, the second-ranked prospect (per MLB Pipeline) in the organization and a 2024 first round selection, started the season at Single-A Visalia and was called up to High-A Hillsboro on June 10. The left-handed hitting outfielder is batting .267 (59-for-221) with 15 doubles, three triples, three home runs, 60 walks and 19 stolen bases across 67 games between both levels.
The Sod Poodles hit the road this week for a three-game set against the Midland RockHounds (Double-A, Athletics) beginning tomorrow night with a 7:00 p.m. first pitch. They will return to HODGETOWN on July 4 to take on the RockHounds for a three-game series over Independence Day weekend. Single-game tickets are available and can be purchased at the box office located outside the HODGETOWN third base gate.
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