Collecting Cleveland Indians Topps team sets from 1952-present, as well as post-war minor and major league autographs.
I wrote to Michael Madsen in 2006. At the time he was one of the A’s top-30 prospects. He was drafted out of Ohio State in the 21st round of the 2005 draft He had a very nice pro debut in 2005, going 6-1 with a 1.69 ERA/0.875 WHIP in[…]
I did not find the 2020 Gypsy Queen checklist to be all that thrilling, but I was happy to see Gio Urshela in there. Last season Gio hit .314/.355/.534 with 21 HR–good for a 133 OPS+ and 3.9 WAR. That, coupled with his plus defense…he has the potential to be[…]
Oliver Perez has been in the league for 17 seasons–that is a long time for a pitcher. He has had a very nice late-career resurgence with the Indians. In the last couple of seasons, he has been one of the more dependable arms in the Tribe pen. Over the last two seasons, he has pitched 73 innings in relief, allowing only 55 hits while striking out 91. Good for a 2.84 ERA/161 ERA+/1.014 WHIP.
I don’t much care for the Yankees. But I do like Aaron Judge. Even though he was a first-round pick by the Yankees in 2013 (32nd overall), I don’t think anyone was expecting THIS kind of production.
Shogo Akiyama signed a 3-year, $21M deal with the Cincinnati Reds this past off-season. The 31-year old veteran has spent his entire nine-season career with the Seibu Lions the Nippon Professional Baseball Organization. He was very good. In Japan, he owns a career line of .301/.376/.454 with 116 HR. Five-time Pacific[…]
Despite that year with the Cubs…I really like Ben Zobrist. He has had a really great career and easily one of the more interesting players of the 2000s. Drafted in the 6th round by the Houston Astros in 2004 He was Top 20 prospect with the Astros, who thought that[…]
AJ Block is one of the Cougar’s starting pitchers for the 2020 season. He was solid in his first start of the season, going 7 innings against CSU Bakersfield, allowing 6 hits and 1 ER, striking out 4. It a bummer he did not get the win–this is his fourth[…]
Zane Mills is a sophomore at Washington State University. Last night he pitched against Hawaii and had a very nice game: 7 IP, 5 hits with 7 K’s and only 2 walks. He really only had a rough time of it in the 3rd inning when he allowed two runs.[…]
Josh Bell was the Pirates 2nd round pick of the 2011 draft out of Dallas Jesuit College Prep. While moving up through the Pirates organization he was considered one of the better prospects in baseball. Between 2011 and 2016 he was ranked one of the Pirates Top 10 prospects six[…]
Nick Wittgren was drafted by the Marlins in the 9th round of the 2012 draft out of Perdue University. He twice ranked as one of the Marlins Top 30 prospects (#18 in 2013, #26 in 2015) Wittgren made the majors 2016 with Florida and over the next three seasons proved[…]