MLB All-Star weekend was filled with several high-profile events. To be honest, there were so many that I really couldn’t keep up, and I was often running behind schedule. 2025 was a far cry from my first All-Star schedule in Seattle (2023) when I had very little access and even fewer invites. The last two years have been kind to both Minority Prospects and the Black Baseball Mixtape.
One of the events I was looking forward to the most was the Minority Prospects All-American Game. The game was played at Marietta High School and featured some of the best underclassmen in the country: RJ Cope (winner of the HR Derby, Vandy commit), Keon Johnson (Vandy commit), Malachi Washington (LSU commit), Bubba Coleman (Bama commit), RJ Groomster (Purdue commit), the list goes on and on and on. The honorary captains of the game were RJ Austin, who the Baltimore Orioles drafted in the 3rd round of the 2025 MLB draft, and Tre Phelps (University of Georgia).
When you talk about the changing landscape of Black baseball in the country, you have to speak about Minority Prospects, the Black Baseball Mixtape, Black Baseball Media, and the Players Alliance (who was represented at the game by Board Members CC Sabathia (HOF, Class of 2025) and Edwin Jackson). The gatekeepers around Black baseball are changing. The stories are changing, and most importantly, the people writing the narrative of Black baseball are changing. Let me take you behind the curtain.
All photos shot by Cheats on his now-famous Instax instant camera.
RJ Austin
Baseball Creator Gabe Smith @IM_Gabe15
A few photos below that were not taken by my instant camera
Diamond Culture Batting Gloves
