Friday 5: Five(ish) Cards I Love In 2015 Topps Update

I opened a little bit of Topps Update last weekend and walked away with an obscene number of throwbacks.  There were other cards in the boxes outside of the all of those cool 60s and 70s Topps cards.  For this week's Friday Five I am going to work a little bit with the base set cards from the Update set.  I tried to go through and pick out just the five coolest cards from the set, but that proved a fairly tough task.  So, instead I am going with five cool things I found in my two boxes of Update using five(ish) cards.


5. Former Durham Bulls in the Majors 
The ultimate goal of a minor league team is to graduate players to the Major Leagues.  Even if they do not end up playing for the Rays in the long term, it is still cool to watch a baseball game and see somebody in there from the Bulls.  This year's Topps Update set offered several Durham Bulls, but since this post is using five(ish) cards I am going to limit this section of my blog post to exactly five cards.

First, there are the normal Minor League types who get called up to the Majors and make the team.  Mahtook was a high draft pick by the Rays out of LSU and Andriese was in the Brad Boxberger/Logan Forsythe trade with the Padres.  Both players had been with the Bulls before this season and had proven their worth to the Rays.  

Then there are a few former Durham Bulls who are good stories.  Joey Butler was a career Minor Leaguer who started the year out in Durham, but spent the majority of the summer with the Rays playing well in his first extended stay in the Majors.  Sometimes players like Butler can fly under the radar in the Update sets, great to see Topps get him a card.

Stephen Vogt has an All-Star card in the set.  He was kind of a forgotten player with the Rays and ended up being more or less dumped in a conditional trade to the A's.  Awesome to see him get a little recognition for his good play this year with a trip to the All-Star game.

and then there is this card.  Yes, Travis Shaw is a nice looking prospect for the Red Sox, but Allan Dykstra is also on the card.  Last summer he won the Triple A All-Star Game home run derby in Durham.  He signed a minor league deal with the Rays, spent time in the Majors during April, but was released in the middle of the summer.  He still has the championship belt.....

4.  Former Cardinals on the All-Star Team 

It was great to see Albert Pujols regain some of his power this summer, although his slash line was down across the board, and make the American League All-Star team.  Shelby Miller was a really good story this year.  Sure, his win-loss record was something terrible, but he still pitched well for the Braves and seems to be an important part of the team's future.  

3.  Current Cardinals All-Stars 

I really liked these cards in the Update set.  Not every team has a card like this, but I liked the idea of having a team like card show the All-Star Game representatives.  Not sure why they did not just make this a straight team card instead of assigning it to a player, this is a Trevor Rosenthal card, but I still like it.  These guys all got booed......

2.  Jason Heyward on the Cardinals 

I'm not sure if the Cardinals are going to sign Heyward.  I have enjoyed watching him play this year, but this card could be just about the last wearing a Cardinals uniform, or this could be the start of a long run of cards with him in Cardinal red.  

1.  Rookie Cards 

The best part of buying Update sets is the rookie cards.  I liked the Joey Gallo and Kris Bryant cards the best.  I swear that's Joey Gallo in all of that Gatorade.  Pretty cool card.  The Bryant card is a little simpler, but it's always nice to see a card with Wrigley Field in the background.  

 

Top 10 Prospects in 2015 Bowman

Friday is usually my countdown post, but this week I am throwing in a second in honor of this year's Bowman set.  I live in the middle of North Carolina which is jammed packed with minor league teams and college teams.  I usually get a chance to see quite a few of these players on their up to the Majors, and if I do not, I usually form an opinion on them anyway.  So, here is the deal with this post:

I flipped through all of the cards in the Bowman product; base set, prospects set, chrome prospects set, autographs, inserts, everything.  I picked out the ten best players in my opinion.  I know we all want these guys to be superstars, but in some cases I willing to settle for solid contributor.  That counts for something........

10. Noah Syndergaard- He's really big and has a nice fastball and curveball.  Syndergaard should be a power arm in the Mets rotation for a long time.  I still like Matt Harvey better, but not being quite as good as Matt Harvey means you are still pretty good.  I hate comps, because they usually get people upset, but I will go John Lackey.  Similar build, fastball/curveball, and the guy won two World Series rings.  If you're a Mets fan you take that right?  

9.  Joey Gallo- I have two swing and miss hitters on my countdown.  I do not like low contact hitters because they usually do not do much in the Majors.  See Mark Reynolds.  That's not my comp by the way, I don't think......So, Joey Gallo hits a lot of home runs.  Last year in the minor the Texas third base prospect hit 41 in 126 minor league games.  He also struck out 179 times in 537 plate appearances.  He's hitting for average this year in Double A, but the K's are still there.  I am going with Adam Dunn as a comp.  Should be a fun player to watch in Arlington for years to come.  

8.  Francisco Lindor- Lindor played locally for the Carolina Mudcats last year and is the gem of the Cleveland Indians farm system.  What's he do?  He's got a little bit of pop, but not a ton.  He hits about .270-.280, steals some bases, plays good defense.  I think he's going to be an above average Major League shortstop.  He might not hit the home runs that Gallo, or some of these others players put up, but I think he's a safe prospect.  Meaning he's going to play and play a long time.  I will say his comp is Orlando Cabrera.  

7. Carlos Correa- Correa was the first overall pick in the 2012 MLB draft.  He's already missed some time with a knee injury, but also already reached Triple A by hitting .300 most of the way through the minors.  He's not got a lot of pop yet and will steal a few bases.  He's 6'4 and has a chance to fill out a little bit more.  Definitely a higher ceiling than Lindor, but he's my second best shortstop on this countdown.  I think he develops some pop he could be something really special.  If not, he's going to be like Edgar Renteria with a slash numbers.  

6. Corey Seager- I am not sure if Corey Seager is going to end up at SS, but I kind of doubt it.  He's got some power, he hits for a good average, and he gets on base.  I do not mind his defense at short, but think he'd be a good defender at 3rd.  I think at worst he is a good to above average everyday third baseman for the Dodgers for the next decade plus.  He has the potential to be a very good player though and would not be surprised if he was an All-Star caliber player for a long time.  Sounds a lot like the other Seager......

5.  Julio Urias- I am putting this guy on my list at five, but I thought about putting him at 1.  He's the youngest player on this last, at 18, but has already spent a few seasons in the minors with the Dodgers.  Basically he strikeouts about 11 hitters per 9 innings that he pitches.  The Dodgers are really careful with him, so he has not pitched a lot of innings, nor won a lot of games (5 wins in 3 seasons), but he's supposedly really impressive.  No comp here.  

4. Addison Russell- I like Russell better than the other two shortstops on the list.  He's has the good qualities of both players (steadiness and fielding of Lindor, average and OBP of Correa) with a little bit more power and pop.  Russell is the second highest Cubs prospect on this list, but it' not going to shock me if he ends up being the better of the two players in the long run.  I think he's got a lot to offer.  I will go with Alan Trammel on my comp.  

3.  Kris Bryant- I can hear the booing and hissing already along with the chants of "You're a Cardinals fan".  Note that my number 4 player was a Cub and his comp player was someone many believe to be a Hall of Famer.  Bryant has a higher ceiling than Russell, but I have more concerns with Bryant.  Mainly, I do not like players who do not make contact.  Bryant has a lot of home runs.  He is going to hit a lot of home runs.  He is also going to strike out a ton.  You remember when Ryan Howard had an OBP above .400 and hit 58 home runs?  That could be Kris Bryant.  He could also end up being an Adam Dunn, Dave Kingman type too.  Lots of home runs, lots of strikeouts.  Hopefully lots of walks...

2. Joc Pederson- He's got some of the same problems as Bryant with the strikeouts.  Pederson needs walks if he is going to be a good Major League player.  He's also already got 9 home runs in his first 40 some MLB games, so the power seems to be there.  While I do not think Pederson has 40 home run power, he is probably going to hit 30 in year and he also steals bases.  He has gone over 30 twice and 25 two times in the Minors.  Pederson has the potential to be a good power speed guy who hits 25-30 home runs a year with 25-30 steals in a season.  

1.  I think the safe choice here is to go with Pederson or Bryant at 1, but I will roll the dice a little bit and go with Buxton.  First, he's really talented, but he's also really raw.  It might be a little bit before he's in the Majors, but he has the potential to be really good when he gets there.  He's hit for average, he's gotten on base, and he has tons of speed.  The home runs are not there yet, but he has hit a lot of doubles and triples during his time in the Minors.  

Great Gallo Graph

The longer I collect cards the more and more I have gotten away from collecting high end cards and autographs of elite prospects.  For every highly regarded prospect that makes it to the Majors there are always a handful of guys who languish in the minors and fizzle out.  To further complicate matters, about 75% of all the prospects who make the Majors, but fail to live up to the lofty expectations bestowed upon them in the Minors.  

Do not get me wrong, there are plenty of super prospects who turn into super good players, but not good enough to maintain their hobby value.  For example, Steven Strasburg cards were all the rage a few summers ago.  At the end of the 2010 baseball card calendar it was impossible to find a Strasburg autograph for less than $100.  Today there are dozens of Strasburg autographs that sell for less than $100.  In fact, there are currently Buy It Now auctions for Strasburg autographs for less than $40.  That's a pretty drastic drop in five years.  

Which leads me to my latest card.....

Gallo is a great power hitting prospect in the Rangers minor league system.  He enters this year, his fourth as a professional, ranked as the 15th best prospect in baseball according to Baseball America.  In three minor league season Gallo has hit over 100 home runs and has been promoted all the way up to the Rangers minor league team in Double A.  I have talked two people who have seen Gallo play in person and both had nothing but great things to say about the power hitting third baseman.  

The Rangers prospect has some pretty pricey cards and I have generally steered clear of going out and trying to add his cards to my collection.  While I do believe that Gallo will hit for power in the Majors, I am not sure he is going to be a player who lives up to his card hype.  Nothing against Gallo, but few players do.

ZIPS projects Gallo to hit more than 30 home runs, but only hit .209 in the Majors with the Rangers.  Honestly, I do not think Gallo will get enough at bats this season to hit that many home runs.  Either which way, this card frequently sells for around $75-80 and it's really hard to believe that the card will maintain that value over the long run.  

So, how did I end up with a Gallo autograph?  I would never actually pay for this card, but I am willing to bet that Gallo will turn out better than a few other high end prospects with expensive autographs.  In this case, I am hoping that Gallo turns out better than Mark Appel and an Albert Almora.