I got a nice selection of base
cards like Pablo Sandoval, Matt Cain (OK, the guy has a .510 win percentage but
he did just throw a perfect game), and Mark Trumbo (the guy has potential) and
most importantly a pair of Mariners in Ackley and Ichiro. A couple of dismal RCs
were pulled, Liam Hendriks and Addison Reed, a pair of pitchers who are 1-5
between them in the Minors.
I pulled 1 Gold parallel per pack;
Adam Jones, Dustin Ackley and Aramis Ramirez.
The Bowman Prospects that I pulled
could best be described as “Bipolar” at best, starting out on nice high with
Mike Murray. A young guy in the Giants organization, he has been moved from
catcher to DH (on an NL team really?). In his first two seasons he has moved
from AZ Rookie league to A and is expected to be moved up to AA Richmond before
long. Follow this up with severe low, Ian Gac, the guy has been in the league
10 seasons and has never cracked Double AA and his lifetime .251 BA and 1130
Strike Outs will not help his case. Finally I end on a high (with a caveat)
with Drew Hutchison. He is young, he is 5-3 in 11 starts and while he has a
4.60 ERA his 1.35 WHIP puts him among the top 50 pitchers of the current
season. There is one glaring concern about the kid, his elbow injury. He is looking at Tommy John Surgery so his
future is a big question mark right now.
I got three purple Prospect
parallels and one orange Prospect parallel.
Purple parallel: Greg Billo, Tyler
Collins and Luis Angel Sanz. Billo and Collins are young and have a nice upside;
Sanz on the other hand is a Minor League lifer who is floating around Detroit’s
organization and at his current rate may never see the AA level.
Orange parallel: Nick Maronde.
#151/250: This may turn out to be a gem in waiting. He is a lefty with 3 pitches;
he has been used as a starter and in college a reliever. Last year in Rookie
ball he posted up a 5-0 with a 2.10 ERA and 1.10 WHIP. He is in High A right
now and he is 0-1 but he is sitting at a 2.83 ERA with a 1.05 WHIP over 6
games. He is considered the #6 Top Prospect in the Angels organization.
Closing out with the Chromes: Jose
Campo, another Maronde, Jose Vinicio, JT Wise and Luis Heredia.
Campo came over to the Yankees in
the Pineda-Montero trade and like Pineda he went down with an injury. He was
actually starting the season well before the injury and may be a force in the
New York lineup in the future.
Vinicio is just 18 but this is his
third season in the Red Sox organization. He has quick hands and is expected to
be a defensive fixture at the SS position but right now he is not showing it
with 18 errors in 217 chances this season. What caught me is this kid looks
young, yes he is only 18 but on the card he looks 12 years old maybe 13 on a
good day.
JT Wise is coming along slowly but
he may turn in to a solid backstop for the Dodgers in a couple of years
unfortunately he is 26 and needs to get in to high gear if he wants to make it
to the Show.
Luis Heredia, when this kid was 15
he had teams lined up to offer him millions in a signing bonus. When the
signing period opened (per the Mexican Baseball League) the Pirates signed him
for $2.6 million and he was 16 at the time. Apparently the team has been
scouting this kid since he was 13 years old. Here is the kicker, when a MBL
team sells the rights of a player they keep 75% of the signing bonus meaning
his old team keeps $1.95 million and Heredia gets only $650,000 from his bonus.
He started the season on Pittsburgh’s Class A SS team, the State College
Spikes.
I close out on a Joe Benson Bowman
Best. I have always been a fan of BB and this year is no different. While I am
not excited to see Joe Benson I am happy I pulled one anyway. Benson had a cup
of coffee with the Twins last season but could not cut it. He started 2012 in
AAA but was hitting a disappointing .173 before injuring his hand which
requires surgery. As of the end of May he was looking at a minimum of 6 weeks
on the DL depending on his rehab.
Uh Ichiro! I want it. Didn't pull it yet!
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