Collecting Cleveland Indians Topps team sets from 1952-present, as well as post-war minor and major league autographs.
Got this card this week from a consignment deal. Cal Stevenson is having a great season in high-A, hitting .295/.385/.389 with 5 HR. At 22 he is a shade under the league average age. The Blue Jays drafted him in the 10th round of the 2018 draft out of the[…]
Andrew Vaughn is a very good baseball player. This past June he was drafted 3rd overall by the Chicago White Sox out of Cal. This season at Cal he hit .374/.539/.704 with 60 walks compared to just 33 strikeouts. He also hit 15 home runs and has 50 career dingers,[…]
George Valera came into this season rated the Indians #5 prospect. The ranking was based heavily on his tools and a brief showing in the Arizona League in 2018, where he hit .333/.409/.556 with one home run before going down with an injury. This season he opened the year in[…]
Last season Roberto Perez was one of the worst regulars in all of baseball, hitting .168/.256/.263 with 2 HR. At the same time Yan Gomes, the Indians starting catcher, had a great year hitting .266/.313/.449 with 16 HR and getting his first All-Star selection. This past off-season the Indians[…]
I got this autograph in-person a couple years ago in Lake County. Albert Abreu was on the Houston Astro’s low-A team when I got this autograph. He was already well thought of prospect at the time. My notes: Abreu entered the season as one of the Astros top 15[…]
Back in 2016, I drove the two hours from Lake Country to Mahoning Valley to see the Astro’s short-season affiliate play the Scrappers. One of the big reasons I wanted to make the drive to get Stephen Wrenn. Wrenn was the 6th round pick of the Astro’s out the University of Georgia. Being[…]
Carlos Vargas was semi-big deal international signing of the Mariners back in 2015 out of the Dominican Republic. Following the 2016 season he was rated as the Rays #26 prospect. He has since fallen off the prospect lists–his bat is not really all that impressive. Last season in Rookie ball[…]
Ryan Lillie was drafted out of UC Riverside in the 5th round of 2017 draft. He started off his college career as a catcher but transitioned to pitching. So his arm does not have as many miles on it as some. He had a very solid 2018 pitching between for[…]
Rodolfo Duran, c, Philadelphia Phillies – Signed as an international free agent by the Phillies in 2014. Spent all of 2018 in Low-A ball, his first time there, and hit .260/.304/.495 with 18 HR. A 20-year-old catcher with plus power is pretty exciting. Stephen Tarpley, p, New York Yankees –[…]
Last season I added a bunch of University of New Mexico players to my collection. I saw them play in Hawaii the season before, but there were a couple guys that I missed. This is what I wrote about these guys a year ago: #30 Carl Stajduhar, if – Last[…]