A year after he went yard in the Futures Game, Josh Bell hit a grand slam for the Pirates

Prior to Friday's 8-4 win over the Cubs, the Pirates continued their ongoing youth movement by calling up switch-hitting first baseman Josh Bell -- the team's No. 3 prospect, according to MLB Pipeline. How has the 23-year-old adjusted to his first taste of Major League pitching, you ask? He smacked a pinch-hit single and scored a run in his very first game, and apparently, that was just a warmup: He got another pinch-hitting appearance during Pittsburgh's 12-6 victory over Chicago on Saturday, and this time he went ahead and hit a grand slam:

It's not every day that a rookie immediately steps up to The Show and starts launching dingers. Where did Bell come from? Where did he hone his pristine post-dinger bat drop technique? Who could have seen this coming? 
Well, anyone who watched last year's SiriusXM All-Star Futures Game, for starters -- the U.S. Team vs. the World Team on the very same field as the All-Star Game. Playing with and against some of the very best young talent in the world in Cincinnati, Bell ... well, you guessed it, he went deep:

For those keeping score at home, that ball had an exit velocity of 108.8 mph, according to Statcast™:

This seems like a good time to mention that you can catch the 2016 SiriusXM All-Star Futures Game this Sunday (7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT on MLB Network). We're not saying Dominic Smith, Yoan Moncada or any of the other top prospects on display will be hitting big league grand slams in a year's time, but we're not not saying it.