Why I Don't Like To Prospect But Do It Anyway

I have never really been someone to hunt down prospects, I just seem to make bad decisions and end up with cards that no longer fit in my collection. I was picking up Dustin Ackley cards but then his numbers dipped and I was even fine with that because his card prices dropped too but then he was traded to the Yankees and I was done with Ackley. Not long after that I started picking up Taijuan Walker and Alex Jackson cards but on November 23^rd Walker was traded to the D-Backs and five days later Jackson was traded to the Braves.

What made it worse is that I had both Walker and Jackson cards in my COMC account so it was a painful reminder when I got my order in December. At least Walker made it to the Mariners where he went a “meh” 22-22 with a 4.18 ERA. Jackson toiled away in the minors not breaking the A level and even though he was a Top 20 prospect for the Mariners he was still years away from making the parent team.

So here is what I got that are just going to be packed away with my ex-Mariners collection, luckily they did not cost too much:

2014 Bowman Sterling Japan-Fractor Taijuan Walker

A couple of early Alex Jackson cards

2013 Leaf Showcase Metal Perfect Game Stars

2014 Bowman Draft Picks Asia Black Exclusive

2015 Bowman’s Best High Definition

These cards are thick and use an amazingly beautiful image that looks wonderful in-hand

2015 Bowman Draft Asia Exclusive” Black Wave, Red & Black and Black Refractor

Will I continue to chase Mariners’ prospects? Most likely

Will I get burned again? Yes of course

Some Taijuan Pickups

My pickup pile is starting to stack up high and since I have posted a couple of non-sports related posts I am going with some recent Taijuan Walker pickups for my Seattle Mariners collection.

 

First up is his 2014 Gypsy Queen rookie card. Walker has been in the Mariners system since he was drafted in 2010. He has appeared in 88 minor league games going 30-30 while pitching 9 games for the Mariners where he has gone 2-2. He is currently the Mariners #1 prospect and just got called up, he is scheduled for 2 more starts this year (Friday against the Astros and next Wednesday against the Blue Jays).

I was fortunate enough to pick up his 2013 Leaf Trinity Pure Glass autograph # 6/60 for an insane price, $6.02 shipped. This card is currently selling for $25-30 plus shipping so mine was almost a steal. I have been watching the Pure Glass cards since their release because they are quite unique. The only downside is they are a fingerprint magnet, not that I am complaining.

Trade With Gavin

Shortly after I added my Wants list and Trade list I got a couple of emails. One was from Gavin from Baseball Card Breakdown inquiring about a couple of baseball cards that I had listed and after a couple of emails we had a deal worked out. I have a big “Thanks” for Gavin, he gave up a beautiful 2014 Bowman Chrome Taijuan Walker Top 5 Prospects mini orange refractor. This card is amazing and I realize how hard it must have been for him to accept the offer.

 

Included in the deal coming from Portland were a handful of Mariners in Jim Presley, Russ Swan and Randy Johnson sitting shotgun to the Walker mini. I can assure you that Taijuan Walker has already settled in to his new home in my Mariners binder along with other greats like Jay Buhner and Edgar Martinez.

Who Is Who? Follow Up

I was trying to be sly by using one person's signature for all 10 options. Both responders got it correctly by pointing out they were all (or almost all) the same signer, Mariners prospect Taijuan Walker.

What led me to writing the post was the variety of his signature. I have been looking for autographs of prospects and young stars in the Mariners organization like Mike Zunino, Taijuan Walker, DJ Peterson and Danny Hultzen. While searching I noticed that Walker's autographs appeared so different on the various sets. It made me wonder if he has family or friends signing for him. Even cards that are being sold as "in-person" autographs appear differently. I know that people have different signatures depending on how many they are signing or if they are in a rush but this seems like a significant amount of changes in the signatures.

Here are the cards in order 1-10, I am also including two cards at the end that are "in-person" signatures.

Card #1

Card #2

Card #3

Card #4

Card #5

Card #6

Card #7

Card #8

Card #9

Card #10

In-person signature

In-person signature