A Whole Pack of Sox

We are now three years into the White Sox career of Carlos Rodon.  I really like Carlos, so I am not going to sit here and waive the white flag on his career, or suggest that he's going to be remembered as some huge draft flop.  There are a lot of positives about him in spite of whatever his win-loss record has been with the White Sox.  

Besides, I just think back to his time pitching at NC State and enjoy every card of his that I can get my hands on.  Locally he will always be remember as a great college pitcher who helped, along with Trea Turner, get the Wolfpack to the College World Series.  

He's only been out of college a few years and he already has a bunch of items in the NC State Hall of Fame.....

Which brings me to a few new baseball cards.  I picked up one new 2017 autograph of Rodon along with two 2016 cards that I did not own before last week.  Brand new card first....

This is out of the Gallery set.  I don't think there are as nice as the late 1990s/early 2000s version of this set, but I hold those sets on a pretty lofty pedestal, so perhaps I am setting the bar too high for these cards.  I haven't picked up any packs of these cards, my local Wal-Mart is a complete disaster for baseball cards.  It was a retail exclusive to that store.  It's a nice enough looking card though, even if the autograph is a sticker, it's not immediately noticeable on this card.  

I feel like I am getting picky about these colored parallel cards as I get older.  A green White Sox card?  I feel like this card is some sort of commemoration of the St. Patty's Day Spring Training Games where the teams don green uniforms.  

I am okay with this for the moment, but I am seriously considering just buying/trading for parallel colors that actually look good.  Purple Cardinals cards?  No.  Green Rays cards?  No.  I could go on, you get the point.  

Last one.  The Topps base set autographs usually have enormous print runs, and if you can hold out ten minutes after they are released, you can usually find many of them for next to nothing.  Honestly, I actually really like the looks of these autographs out of the 2016 Topps base set.  

Calm Carlos

I have been a pretty big fan of Carlos Rodon since he first stepped foot on campus at NC State.  The all everything starting pitcher had spectacular college career which included a trip to college World Series.  Back then Rodon had a bunch of cards in the Panini USA Baseball sets and collectors went crazy for them.  I dabbled here and there, I do love my Wolfpack, but it's hard to shell out big dollars for a player in college.  

Cue Music....

   

In case you forgot what happened to Carlos after college....

Rodon was drafted by the White Sox in 2014 with the third overall pick.  He breezed through the minors and debuted with the ChiSox in 2015.  He's been a decent pitcher during his first two seasons in the Majors, but I am not sure that he has been as good as most collectors and fans had hoped he would be when he reached whatever stadium the White Sox play in now (insert corporate name).  

I still have high hopes for Rodon.  He's just 23 years old and has been out of college such a short time, I am hoping their is a little higher ceiling in his left arm.  In the meantime, the slow career start has made the chore of finding Carlos Rodon cards a little easier and a lot cheaper.  

Carlos has become calm.  

Collectors have cooled on him.  Honestly, I feel like I had sort of let him slip off of my radar this year, but I think this card is a pretty sweet find for my first autograph of the NC State alum....

Tier One is always a good looking set and it's an on card autograph.  Kind of cool that it's 149/149, even though I do not do the whole Ebay one of one thing.  I have another Rodon autograph on the way that I just traded for and will post in awhile.  In the meantime, let's hope Carlos picks it up on the mound.   

If you're a White Sox fan, I'd be on the lookout for the White Sox to important the Braveheart guy from NC State for a little extra motivation and pep.  

Shiny New Card In The Mail

The Strata brand has been around for awhile.  It was a football card product, maybe basketball too, and then a baseball card insert.  I pulled a redemption for one last year, but I never got the card.  I even had Topps substitute the redemption, but apparently they do not really follow through with that either.  Here's a look at my glorious Strata autograph of Julio Tehran in all it's glory.

This year Topps put out an actual stand alone Strata product.  It's a one pack per box, one autograph, one relic card kind of a deal.  I don't those types of products for the most until after someone else has done the ripping.  Sure, there are quite a few players I am interested in the set, but I am not sure that any of them are really worth the $80ish layout for a box.  I am not going for that jumbo Matt Adams patch, more like Steven Souza.

I like the looks of the cards, so I went ahead and picked up my first Strata card last week.  It arrived in my mailbox yesterday.  I spent some time with the card in front of me today on my desk just looking at it.  Very nice card.  Here is the front......

Topps used a thicker card stock for these and they have a really nice finish.  The picture of Rodon on the front of the card is translucent when held up to the light, but the signature space is transparent.  If you flip the card over onto the back the signature on the front.

While this is probably nit picking, I would have loved to see the autograph space on the front of the card have a little better defined space to allow it to show through in the transparent panel.  The top of the signature on the back is slightly covered up.  Not a biggie.  Really nice card, another couple of these are on the way soon.

Raleigh Card Show

I took a little bit of time out of my Sunday morning to walk around the card show at the State Fairground in Raleigh.  I've only made one other post on my blog about attending a card and that was a few months back.  So let's run through the card show rules one more time:

1. We always eat lunch/dinner before attending the card show
2. We have a cash budget and we stick to the budget
3. We never buy cards of the home team

Let's break down how I did on my rules:

1. We always eat lunch/dinner before attending the card show

Not this time.  I actually made my appearance at the card show on Sunday morning.  It's pretty hard to eat lunch/dinner before 10am on a weekend.  I guess we could have found a diner or something, but my son is a stickler for rule following and food.  In my son's mind decisions are broken down into two categories:  Red Choices and Green Choices.   Drink a smoothie for dinner, eat a slice of pizza for breakfast...all food fouls, and a clear red choice, in the eyes of my son.  We ate cereal and then went out to lunch after the card show.  Green choice.

We went to the Players Retreat in Raleigh across from the NC State Belltower.  It's a huge NC State hang out and they have some tasty burgers.  Although my assistant prefers the hot dog on the kids menu.  Green choice.  The PBR is cheap.  Red choice.

2. We have a cash budget and we stick to the budget

Are we being honest?  No.  See below.  Red Choice.  

3. We never buy cards of the home team

Here's where I ran off the tracks at this card show.  I came to the show planning on buying a nice card or two, perhaps a small box of something like Topps Tek or Topps Archives Signature.  I walked one row with my son when I ran across the parent of a former student.  I've run into him at other card shows, nice guy, and he had bought out a booth the day before.  Long story short, he had some really nice looking cards of local guys.  

First card I bought.....

Chris Archer is from Clayton, near Raleigh, and he played for the Durham Bulls.  The 3rd rule of card shows was shattered, but I ended up with a cool Tier One Black autograph serial numbered out of 10.  It's pretty hard to say no to a card like this.  Which brings me to the second card.....

Carlos Rodon is from Holly Springs, near Raleigh, and he pitched at NC State and for USA Baseball.  The 3rd rule of card shows was shattered again, but I ended up with this cool Carlos Rodon Bowman Inception card serial numbered out of 25.  Is that orange?  Leaning towards yes. 

Now that it's been established that the rules were completely broken for this card show I might as well show you the last card I ended up picking up.  I bought a box of Topps Archives Signatures.  Which is a per pack autograph box.  That's a huge no-no in my world.   More rules.  Here's the card....

It's an Andruw Jones (Local Connection: He played for the Durham Bulls), but it's also a 1/1.  It's also a Ginter.  On the negative it's Andruw Jones on the Dodgers.  

All in all I picked up three nice cards and shattered all of my card show rules and pack buying rules.  I am going to go find the video clip from the end of Cider House rules when Heavy D and Spiderman burn the workplace rules because they are stupid and watch it a few dozen times.  Perhaps the card show rules should be burned.....

Waiting and Waiting.....

I spent the last week going through some of my favorite cards in the Stadium Club base set.  I felt a little bit unusual posting all kinds of cards from the base set without posting anything with a serial number or autograph on the card.  Since I did not actually open a box of Stadium Club I am more or less just piecing together the cards I like from the product.  Not quite as fun as opening a box, or some packs, but in the end I am still going to walk away with a complete set and a few nice autographs.  

I guess the end product is ultimately the same.  I set out through Ebay, Facebook Groups, and Twitter to track down a cool autograph from this product.  I ran into a familiar problem, I have mentioned in other posts, while trying to track down an autograph of a Cardinals, or Rays player.  Namely, they are all the same Cardinals and Rays players who always appear in every Topps product.  I love the Cardinals, but I am just not excited about Matt Adams.  

After contemplating several different directions, I landed my first autograph from Stadium Club last week, and it arrived in the mail this afternoon.  Here's my latest autograph:  

No Cardinals, no Rays, no problem.  I went with this Rodon since I loved watching him pitch at my alma mater NC State.  Rodon has had several autographs recently, and while I have not rushed out to buy them all, I am excited about his prospects of being a really good pitcher for a long time.  More Stadium Club in the near future....

Pro Debut Base Set: 9 Players I Watch

I did a top 10 list with my Bowman box a few weeks back and decided to do something similar with my Pro Debut box.  However, since the two sets share quite a few players I decided to put a little bit of a twist on this list.  For Pro Debut I am going to share nine players who I check in on regularly during the season.  I like checking the scoreboard and readying through box scores, but with the minors there are only so many scores that you can stop and read without spending the whole day on baseball.  That wouldn't be so bad, but I am not sure I would get much done at work.

Everyone ready?  Let's go.

Alex Reyes- Peoria Chiefs - He's only 1-4 on the season, but has 66 strikeouts in just 44 innings.  The tall right hander is widely considered the best prospect in the Cardinals system and rated by many publications in the Top 50 for all of baseball.  While Reyes might not win many of his starts, I always check his box scores for his strikeout/walk ratio and to see if the other team hit him in any way.  He has not given up a home run yet this year.

Carlos Rodon- Chicago White Sox - The former NC State lefty did not last long in the minors this year.  He made his Major League debut in late April out of the bullpen, but was quickly put into the starting rotation by the Sox.  Rodon has now made 4 starts with almost a strikeout per inning.  His WHIP is 1.709, so he needs to keep a few more people off the base paths if he is going to be successful long term.  Still, the rookie has an ERA+ of 113 during his limited time up with the ChiSox.

Willy Adames- Charlotte Stone Crabs - I follow the Rays Minor League team to see who is up on their way to the Durham Bulls.  The scenery around the Rays Minor League changed greatly during the past year with all of the trades.  Adames is one player who has flown under the radar to a degree.  The shortstop was acquired in the David Price trade with the Tigers and has posted a .316/.382/.462 line so far this year with 18 extra base hits (13 doubles, 3 triples, 2 home runs) in just under 200 at bats this year.  I know there are some Rays fans who have openly, and frequently, complained about the haul the time received for Price, but Adames seems to be a really nice prospect.

Corey Seager- Oklahoma City Dodgers- Seager is a local guy from North Carolina.  He's had a great Minor League career and has now reached Triple A.  His OBP is down slightly, but Seager is still showing good pop at the high level of the Minors.  I obviously watch Seager to see how well he hits, but it also seems that the Dodgers are starting to work the top prospect out as a third baseman.  He has played 5 games so as at third, but many predict that he will land there long term.  

Colin Moran- Corpus Christi Hooks - Moran was one of the better college players I have seen with my own two eyes.  The guy could hit while he was at UNC.  My only hang up with him was always his foot speed.  Still, the Marlins took him with the fifth overall pick in the 2013 draft and later moved him onto the Astros.  Moran is almost a .300 career Minor League hitter with an OBP near .350.  However, his slugging percentage is just above .400 and he has only 11 career minor league home runs in almost 800 at bats.  Moran was a great college player, I hope he makes it in some capacity.  

David Dahl- New Britain Rock Cats - Dahl has shown great flashes during his time in the Minors, but has had some trouble staying healthy.  Last season, his only full year in four years in the Minors, Dahl went .299/.355/.492 with 41 doubles, 8 triples, and 14 home runs.  The Rockies outfield prospect also stole 21 bases.  He was off to a bit of a slow start in Double A this year, but is out again after having his spleen removed last weekend after a pretty bad collision.  

Trea Turner- San Antonio Missions - Well, for the moment Turner is a Padres prospect, but he will be a National soon.  He was in the Will Myers/Steven Souza three way trade between the Padres/Nationals/Rays, but he could not actually leave the Padres yet because he has not played a year in their system.  In 47 Double A games the former NC State shortstop is hitting .333/.405/.508 with 5 home runs 2 triples, 12 doubles, and 9 steals.  I think Turner could be up in the Majors within the next year.  

Francisco Lindor- Columbus Clippers - Lindor is a top 5 prospect according to MLB.com and Baseball Prospectus.  He played locally the past few summers with the Carolina Mudcats and has worked his way up to Triple A Columbus.  While the Clippers play the Durham Bulls, I still have not seen him play in Triple A.  However, the future shortstop of the Indians has had a slow start in the International League with a .260/.318/.367 line.  There is definitely a strong defensive presence with Lindor, base running is also an important tool also, but even those have been a little shaky this season.  I am still watching Lindor, but if he does not pick up the pace, I am going to have to check in a little less often.  

Henry Owens- Pawtucket Red Sox - I like Henry Owens, but he has fallen into a bit of a rut in Triple A.  It's not anything as bad as Lindor, but his ERA is up, along with his walks, and his strikeouts are down.  Still, I like the chances that Owens will figure out Triple A hitters and continue to progress as a top prospect.  Plus, I am watching the Paw Sox right now for Allen Craig.  Owens is there too, but someone left Allen Craig out of the Pro Debut set.  Hmm.


This is my list of players.  What are some of the players you check on everyday?  

Rodon! Rodon! Rodon!

I had a pretty good Carlos Rodon collection going before he was even drafted thanks to his appearance on the USA Baseball team which netted the former NC State hurler several cards in various Panini products.  There are many in Rodon fans in central North Carolina after he starred in college at NC State and spent his summers playing for USA Baseball in Cary, North Carolina which is about twenty minutes from both Raleigh and Durham.  

The real excitement for Rodon cards started after the MLB Draft last June was the product that would have his first licensed autograph.  Leaf chimed in with a few draft related products, which features Rodon autographs, but he is in an NC State uniform with the logos blanked out.  Many local collectors had him pegged for last fall's Bowman Draft product, but when he did not appear on the checklist the 2015 Bowman set.....

I was excited to land a few of his cards from the Bowman set I picked up from a jumbo box....

The real prize, however would have been pulling a Rodon autograph.  I kind of figured that the odds were slim that I would actually land one out of the box I opened, so I set aside some money and trade resources to track down a copy of his first certified autograph last week.  This gem showed up in my mailbox this afternoon......

Needless to say I am ecstatic about owning this card.  When I got to the end of the year this is still going to be one of my favorite cards.  I have been waiting a few years to see a Rodon card in a Major League uniform with an autograph on the front of the card.  The day has finally come and I am so happy to file this card away into my collection.

2015 Bowman Inserts, Parallels, and Minis

Third and final Bowman post on the jumbo box of cards I opened up last week.  So far I have covered my autographs and the base, prospects, and prospects chrome sets.  I saved the inserts, parallels, and minis for last.  Let's start with the two basic insert sets..........

The Bowman Scouts Top 100 prospects returns for another year.  There are also autographed versions of these cards which have appeared in the past five or so Bowman products.  I have never assembled this complete insert set in previous years, but mainly just focus on picking up the Cardinals and Rays in the set.  I pulled an Alex Reyes, so that saves me one trade or purchase.....

These flashback cards from 1990 are my favorite thing about this post.  Oh, and there are autographed versions of these cards too.  The set features Moises Alou, as a Pirate, Juan Gonzalez, Marquis Grissom, and Frank Thomas.  I am a little bit disappointed that Tood Zeile was not included.   I am going to pick up the non-autographed versions of these cards at the least.  Marquis Grissom?  Moises Alou?  Might see an autograph of those two before the end of the summer......

On to the parallels.  You remember this weekend when I made a post about tracking down a rainbow of Oscar Taveras?  I said it, but then in the course of working on this post I remembered why I hate the whole idea of rainbows.  I pulled five different colored parallels out of one jumbo box and I am sure there are another two or three that I am missing.  Not to mention things like printing plates.  The Jake Lamb is out of 150, two are out of 250, one is out of 500, and the sparkly one in the top left handed corner is not serial numbered.  Honestly, I like that one the best......

The minis are nice.  I like the minis.  If the parallels were all in miniature version I would probably like them a lot more.  The Rodon in the middle was a welcome pull and shows the base design of the mini set.  I also pulled a Piscotty which is flipped over to show the back.  Each team has five minis, their five best prospects, which are also included in the set.  So, in other words, not necessarily the team's five best prospects, just the five best prospects from that team featured in Bowman.  The Berrios is blue and serial numbered to 250.  There are probably four other colored versions of that card....

You can tell I may not be the biggest fan of the colored/rainbow parallels, but hey those 1990 throwbacks.....Have a great day.  

2015 Bowman Base and Prospects Sets

Last week I showed off the autographs that came out of my jumbo box.  This week I am onto the base set and some parallels later in the week.  For now I am sticking with the base set......

The organization and design of the 2015 base set is pretty much the same it has been for the better part of a decade.  There is a base set with 200, the first 150 cards featuring established Major League players.  The design is what is...it looks like a Bowman set.

The backs of the cards are typical of Bowman too.  I know I do not do backs of cards often, but Bowman has a distinctive card back.   The little charts, graphs, and diagrams at the bottom (what us teacher folk call text features) have changed over the years, but the three sections of text have not.....

The back half of the base set, consisting of the last 50 cards, consist of young Major League players/Major League ready prospects.  Players like Jorge Soler, Joc Pederson, and Javier Baez make up this part of the Bowman set.  While the quantity of players in this category included in the Bowman base set has changed from year to year, they have been included in with the veterans for almost a decade now....

The Bowman packs also feature cards in the Prospects and Prospects Chrome sets.  Each of the sets is a total of 150 cards and features the same players in each set with the same card number in each of the sets.  The design for the Prospects and Prospects Chrome sets is the same as the base set, but the numbering on the backs of the cards features the BP, for Bowman Prospects, and BCP for the Chrome Prospects.  There are definitely some good players in this year's set......

This Willy Adames is in the Bowman Prospects set.  Notice the 1st Bowman logo up in the top right hand corner of the card.  I am not going to go through the Bowman Prospects set in this post and tell you everyone that I like and do not like, but I do think this set has the potential to be a pretty deep set in the long term.  There is not a Bryce Harper, Strasburg, Kris Bryant mega prospect in the set, but the number of potentially good prospects in the set is still pretty impressive.  Adames is one of the prospects in this set that I am high on.  Over the summer I will round out the set, pick up some autographs and share a few more names from this set.....

Rodon might be one of the bigger names in this set.  This is from the Bowman Chrome portion of the prospects set.  He actually is scheduled to make his first start of the year this afternoon, I am typing this on Saturday afternoon, and he is clearly going to be a contributor to the White Sox this year.  

Overall this set is everything that collectors should expect out of Bowman.  I think there is good player selection within the prospects portion of the set.  I like this set and look forward to picking up some up the rest of the cards I need to finish out the base set, prospects set, and chrome set.  Of course there will be more autographs too.  Before we leave......

Big shout out to Bowman for putting Durham Bulls pitcher, and Rays prospect Matt Andriese in the set.  He does not have a ton of cards, not the most popular prospect in the game, but the guy works hard.  Fun player to watch if you are looking for a good player to collect in this set.....

#MyCardMonday

What's the big news in baseball today?  Long time Snorting Bull favorite Carlos Rodon is getting called up to the White Sox.  While I am sure that it will probably have a little less fanfare than the Bryant promotion, in my opinion Rodon is going to be a fantastic player for a long time.  The former NC State player was taken by the White Sox third overall in last summer's amateur draft in June.  He has quickly moved through their system and looks like he is going to start out his Major League career in their bullpen.  We'll see how long that lasts.....

Which brings us to #MyCardMonday

There are a bunch of different Rodon autographs out floating around, but my favorite autograph of the left handed pitcher is probably the first one I picked up of him a few years back.  This card is out of the Playoff Prime Cuts set and features Rodon in his USA Baseball uniform.  He actually has several different autographs and relic cards in this set, but this is my easily my favorite card.  The price of the Rodon cards has fluctuated over the past three years, but there are plenty of Rodon autographs floating around out there.

It's come to this...Leaf Cards.

You can feel the air getting colder outside and the baseball season has ended.  There are only a few card releases left on the calendar and the majority of 2014 cards have been opened and sorted.  Back in the day things would be ramping up for the 2015 Topps products to drop sometime around the holiday shopping season.  Instead the new year products drop in February which means I will probably walk down deserted streets in 2 inches of snow to the Target to buy a few packs of the new cards before I venture into my local card shop to open a jumbo.

So what is there to do right now?  Yes, I will do a little bit of work on Bowman Draft.  That Panini Draft product might be a little intriguing.  Maybe.  I have made a few trades of late and have a few cards I am keeping a close eye out for (TJ Warren in an NC State uniform and Rays acetate cards), but really I am not sure what I really need to add to close out the year.  Maybe I will spend some time Tuesday finding some holes to fill in for 2014, but really.......

I found two autographs that a collector on Facebook was unloading cheaply and decided to bite on both cards.  They're Leaf cards.  I have gone on enough rants already about unlicensed cards, so I will spare you a little bit here.  Basically, there are a few college players from the 2014 draft I have been interested in, but had not really thought to go the Leaf route.  There's the two NC State players (Rodon and Turner) and the Cardinals and Rays have a few players stuck in there too.  I picked up one of each.

First up is former NC State star, and White Sox first round draft pick, Carlos Rodon.  This is the blue copy of his Leaf Draft card.  Yes, I noticed that Rodon is wearing a White Sox uniform with no logos on the card.  I am happy to have a copy of a Rodon autograph as a pro.  Rodon made it all the way up to Triple A Charlotte last year and will not be surprised if he makes it up to the Majors quickly in 2015.  I dare say he might start there, but I honestly think he's back in the International League for a few starts.  He has looked good so far in the minors.....

I also picked up a card of Rays top draft pick Casey Gillaspie.  He's already considered the team's best prospect and was selected 20th overall out of Wichita State.

Gillespie seems to have plenty of power, but is really really slow.  You do not have to run fast however when the ball is on the other side of the fence.  He still might be another year or two away from Tampa, but this looks like a pretty good swing.....

The Gillaspie card is from the same set as the Rodon, but this is the base look for the autographs.  While Gillaspie is considered the Rays best prospect at the moment, it's not like the players in their system are world beaters around the card industry.  Still this card has been selling for more than $10 on Ebay, which is pretty good for a non-lisenced autograph of a non-big name prospect.  Maybe he's going to be pretty good.  Time will tell.  

2013 Panini USA Baseball Carlos Rodon Jersey

College baseball is about a week away, depending on your rooting interests.  I am getting ready to check out a few games this spring at all three triangle universities (Duke, UNC, and NC State), but am most excited to see NC State junior Carlos Rodon pitch.  Rodon is the likely first overall pick in the amateur draft this summer and is a great talent.  Many see him as a polished college pitcher who could rise quickly through the minors and be up in the Majors at some point during the 2015 season.  We'll see. 

In the meantime, there are plenty of great Rodon cards already floating out on the market thanks to the USA Baseball program.  Rodon has several relic and autographs out in 2012, but thanks to spending another summer on the College All-Star Team, Rodon is making the rare back to back appearances in the set.  Here's my first card from the set: 

 

I believe that this is the highest numbered version of a Rodon relic card, but is selling less than $10 currently.  The swatch is not a jumbo, but it is definitely more generous than the average swatch.  Love the dark blue piece of alternate jersey from the USA Baseball uniforms.  Very nice piece and a welcome addition to my small Rodon collection.  

ACC Baseball on Cardboard

College baseball season is getting close and I am pretty excited to check out some of our local teams around Raleigh-Durham.   I am planning on making it to several games this year and have a list of players I want to see from various colleges making trips in to play one of the three Triangle schools.   Last year both NC State and UNC made the College World Series and this year look just as promising for both teams.  NC State is lead by star pitcher Carlos Rodon and shortstop Trea Turner.  The Tar Heels will be lead by pitcher Trent Thorton and outfielder Skye Bolt.  The rest of the ACC has some talented players as well and the conference should be pretty deep this year.  

While it's great to live in an area where I have several great college baseball programs nearby, fans all across the county have had more and more access to the best players in college baseball regardless of their location.  The availability of college baseball cards has greatly increased during the past decade mainly through the popularity of the USA Baseball program and its continued popularity amongst baseball card collectors.  Here's my look at four good players in the ACC who are already featured on cardboard:


Carlos Rodon-P
NC State

Rodon projects to be the National Player of the Year, the ACC Player of the Year, and should also be the first overall draft pick in the MLB Amateur Draft this summer.  He's won every individual award there is to win during his two years in Raleigh.  He has also played a few summers over at USA Baseball which means he has several autographs and relics cards floating around already.  Here's a look at an autograph:

Rodon is a pretty hard player to collect.  He has a few cards out on the market, but they are pretty pricey for a baseball player who has not thrown his first professional pitch yet.  The average Rodon card frequently costs more than $50 and the bidding is usually very competitive.  I've been trying to get my hands on one of his new Panini cards, have the money to make a serious offer, but have been outbid, sniped at the last minute on Ebay, and everything else.  You almost have to overpay to land a copy of his cards.

Here's a look at Rodon in action:

Trea Turner-IF
NC State

 Turner currently is projected as the top position player available for this summer's MLB Draft.  Turner had a great freshman year, but had battled the injury bug a bit last year which limited his playing time.  He is incredibly fast and has pretty good patience at the plate.  Like Rodon, he's been around the USA Baseball program for a few years and has several cards out floating about.  They are much cheaper than Rodon's, but I would not say they are cheap.

Turner autographed cards are frequently more than $20.  Not a terrible price, but he still has never played an inning of professional baseball.  I think Turner is a pretty safe bet for Major League teams, so I am not sure where he will go in the first round, but he will be in there somewhere.  I would also guess he is not in the minors a really long time.


Skye Bolt-OF
North Carolina

Bolt is still another year away from the MLB Draft, but should be a pretty high pick coming up in two years.  He's a very patient hitter who posted a great average average, on-base percentage, and walked more than he struck out during his first year in Chapel Hill.  He doesn't have a ton of pop last year, but I am guessing he still develops some good power.  His cards are all from releases put out during the past year.  There are some really cool ones out there, but he's already pretty popular.  I am not sure if people love the name, or they know the potential talent.

I have a base card of Blot, but his autographs are already north of Trea Turner.  Bolt also has some great relic cards that can be found for less than $10. 


Luke Weaver-P
Florida State

Weaver was a second team ACC performer last year in Tallahassee and projects as a top 10 pitching prospect for this summer's MLB entry draft.  I did not get a chance to see Florida State's baseball team last spring, so I cannot speak on Weaver's abilities first hand.  He did pitch for the USA Baseball team this summer, but honestly I made sure that I saw Rodon when I went to their games.  Here's what I know about Weaver: he throws in the mid to low 90s and has a pretty incredible strikeout to walk ratio.  He does have baseball cards.

Weaver's cards are pretty affordable with his autographs sitting below $10 and his relic cards sitting below $5.  Worth a role of the dice given he is likely a first round draft pick. 


Name to remember for later in the summer, they will have baseball cards soon:
Trent Thronton-P University of North Carolina
Landon Lassiter-IF University of North Carolina
D.J. Stewart-OF Florida State
Bryan Radziewski-P Miami
Mark Zagunis-C Virginia Tech
Mike Papi-OF/1BVirginia
Daniel Gossett-RHP Clemson
Brett Austin-C NC State
Brandon Downes-OF Virginia
Derek Fisher-OF Virginia

A Pair of Panini USA Baseball Cards

I have slowly been assembling cards from the 2013 Panini USA Baseball set and picked up two more great cards for my collection during the past week.  I am not trying to put together a complete set or anything, but rather just gather some of the good Cardinals and NC State players appearing in the set.  I might sprinkle in a couple other cool cards along the way too.

First up this morning is a jersey card from NC State junior to be Carlos Rodon.  Keith Law on ESPN is already projecting him as the first overall pick in next year's draft and most would be surprised if he fell very far past the first couple of picks.

2013 Panini USA Baseball Carlos Rodon Jersey Card

Rodon is a left-handed power pitcher and has the Verlander-esque quality of actually ramping up his velocity during the course of a game.  He might start out a game throwing 92-93 and by the fifth inning is sitting at 95-96.  One of his best performances of the year was during the ACC tournament against UNC.  Rodon pitched 10 innings, allowed 1 hit, 1 unearned run, and struck out 14.  UNC has several top offensive prospects including Colin Moran.

The value of his cards is already pretty much sky high for a guy who has not thrown an inning of professional baseball.  Perhaps they will fall a little bit out of season, but I am not counting on much of a slide.  His autographs are generally pushing triple digits in price.  Hate to say that Rodon has priced himself out of my market, but I generally do not push the envelope gambling on high end prospect cards.  

2013 Panini USA Baseball Kolten Wong Autograph 

My second card this morning is an autograph from Cardinals second base prospect Kolten Wong.  The Cardinals currently have Matt Carpenter playing second, but many people believe that Wong will still get a chance at second with Carpenter returning back to his natural position of third base.  That means that third baseman David Freese is likely trade bait, or will be non-tendered at the end of the season.  

Second base has been a bit of a revolving door for the Cardinals during the past decade.  There was Bo Hart, Tony Womack, Mark Grudzielank, Aaron Miles, Hector Luna, Ronnie Belliard, Adam Kennedy,  Julio Lugo, Skip Schumaker, Daniel Descalso, and Carpenter.  Not exactly the model of stability.  The Cardinals are hoping that Wong will hold down the position a little bit longer than some of his predecessors.  

Currently Wong is posting a .298/.358/.466 line in AAA Memphis.  He's, by all accounts, a solid defender too.  I am guessing he will get a call up in September and will compete for the starting job next year.  

2013 Panini USA Carlos Rodon and Trea Turner Cards

I picked up a pair of cards from 2013 Panini USA Baseball this week featuring NC State baseball stars Carlos Rodon and Trea Turner.  NC State, my alma mater, had one of its most successful seasons ever on the diamond in large part to the exploits of these two players.  Last summer both played on the USA Baseball college team, so both have appeared in the Panini USA baseball releases the past two summers.  I've added several cards of both players to my collection already and was happy to add another pair this week.

2013 Panini Pride Carlos Rodon 

The Rodon card is pretty cool.  At first glance I thought that the flag might be a manupatch, but it is not.  Still a really nice design and a good photograph of the left-handed hurler delivering a pitch.  The back of the card lists Rodon as an infielder too, but I am pretty sure that he will not be playing anywhere besides the pitchers mound once he gets drafted.  Rodon does have a few autographs in the Panini set this year, but the prices are a bit high.  I will work on it.

2013 Panini Game Gear Trea Turner Jersey Card

My newest Trea Turner card features a small swatch of jersey.  While Turner has several cards in the new Panini USA set, he has no autograph cards.  He does have a base card and a few relic cards, but I think I am going to just stick to the one since they are very ordinary looking.  No patches, or anything unique.  The shortstop out of Florida is one of the top base stealers in the country and has a little bit of pop in his bat too.

Interestingly enough, ESPN recently ran an Insider Story, written by Christopher Crawford, examining the possibility of these two NC State sophomores landing in the first two slots of the 2014 MLB amateur draft.  The highest two drafted pair of teammates in the history of the draft were UCLA pitchers Gerrit Cole and Trevor Bauer.  So, what are the chance that these two great college players top Cole and Bauer?

I think it all depends on where Turner sits at the time of the draft next year.  Rodon is a big, hard-throwing left-handed pitcher.  He tops out in the mid to upper 90s, sitting around 95-96, with great secondary pitches.  He is a slam dunk top draft pick.  I am not sure of any team that would not want the left-hander.  His only knock is that NC State has pitched him a lot.  Turner is a speed guy, scores runs, fields well, but would you draft that kind of player in the first few picks?  Not sure that I would do that with a high draft pick, but then again I am not making any draft picks.

2012 Panini USA Baseball Carlos Rodon Dual Jersey

I am still working on picking up a few more of the 2012 Panini USA Baseball cards, especially players that I have been able to watch locally during the ACC baseball season.  This week I was able to pick up my second card of NC State pitcher Carlos Rodon.  I gave a run down on Rodon's accolades on my last post about the great left handed pitcher from Holly Springs, North Carolina.  My newest card I picked up is a dual jersey card.

2012 Panini USA Baseball Carlos Rodon Dual Jersey

I've been able to pick up a few other Panini cards the past few weeks, but have never landed the plain jersey version of one of these cards.  My newest Rodon addition features two different pieces of jersey and is limited to 75.  This card has been difficult to find on the secondary market and Rodon cards are drifting north fast.  A few months ago most Rodon autographs were selling for around $20.  Today, most of the autographs of Rodon on the secondary market are over $50 and the jersey cards are approaching $30.  Definitely excited to see what his cards jump to once he is drafted.

2012 Playoff Prime Cuts Carlos Rodon USA Baseball Jersey/Autograph

I invested a little bit in the future of my card collection during the past week when I added an autograph of pitcher Carlos Rodon.  Not sure who that is?  Let me give you a little background.  Rodon spent this past baseball season pitching for the NC State baseball team.  Not your usual baseball powerhouse, except Rodon had a remarkable season last year.  The list of honors Rodon earned after one of pitching at the college level:

-Finalist for the Golden Spikes National Player of the Year
-Consensus First Team All-American
-Louisville Slugger and ACC conference Freshman of the Year
-ACC Pitcher of the Year
-Named the Top Prospect on the USA Baseball College Team
-Lead the ACC in ERA, Innings, Complete Games, and Opponents Batting Average
-3rd Nationally in Strikeouts and 3rd in ERA

Rodon will probably play at State for at least two more years and will then probably be a high draft pick.  While there is no guarantee that Rodon's success will translate into stardom on the next level, I am willing to take that risk for $15.

2012 Panini Prime Cuts Carlos Rodon USA Baseball Jersey/Autograph 

While I haven't collected any Panini products during the past year I am really impressed by the USA Baseball cards in the Prime Cuts set.  The signatures are all on card and they all feature a nice square of jersey.  In my opinion, these are one of the better USA Baseball sets of all-time.  Panini has taken some of the best attributes used by Upper Deck and Topps over the past few decades and combine them all into one set.  I will be on the lookout for a few more of these great cards to add to my collection.