If you were reading our blog back in May of this year, you saw that we picked up a cheap box of 2008 Bowman Chrome Baseball. Since Bowman is all about the prospect cards, you really have no idea how good your box is for months upon years down the line. Instead of forgetting about these cards and hoping for the best, we decided to actively break our collective hearts as the prospects get picked off in the minors one by one.
By the way, this has less to do with 2010 Bowman Chrome coming out and more to do with the end of the regular minor league season.
We’ll be following up with these guys every few months or so as an experiment. Here’s our first check in back in May. How much does prospecting really pay off for your average box? Obviously the odds aren’t that good, but it should be fun to see how many drop out and how quickly and how many make the big leagues and if any stick. Stats are up to date as of yesterday.
For batters, I’ll give the line AVG/OBP/OPS (I’ll let you do the math on SLG from there if you want). I’ll also give HR, RBI and SB.
For pitchers, I’ll give ERA, current W-L, SV & BB/SO
If the average type stats are worse than before, I’ll highlight in red. If it’s better; green. I’ll leave the counting stats in black, because of course they’ll be higher. If the player jumped rank, the stats are cumulative when possible.
Jeudy Valdez (Padres – A) – .247/.302/.682, 10 HR, 76 RBI, 34 SB
Duke Welker (Pirates – High A) – 3.66, 1-2, 5 SV, 47 BB/45 K
Johan Limonta (Mariners – AA) – .302/.377/.858, 14 HR, 83 RBI, 3 SB – currently playing AAA Fall League
Justin Henry (Tigers – AAA) – .264/.360/.705, 1 HR, 29 RBI, 18 SB
Fabio Castillo (Rangers – AA) – 2.11, 1-3, 6 SV, 30 BB/67 K – currently playing in Arizona Fall League
Brandon MaGee (Blue Jays – AA) – Did not pitch in 2010, still listed as Active
Charlie Furbush (Tigers – AAA) – 4.25, 8-9, 0 SV, 40 BB/183 K
Jose Vallejo (Astros – AA; card lists Rangers) – .114/.177/.310, 0 HR, 2 RBI, 1 SB – Previously had no 2010 data. Played in 36 games (2 in AAA).
Hector Rondon (Indians – AAA) – 8.53, 1-3, 0 SV, 10 BB/33 K – currently playing in Venezuelan offseason league
Ernesto Mejia (Royals – High A; card lists Braves) – .276/.337/.805, 16 HR, 69 RBI, 1 SB
Rhyne Hughes (Orioles – MLB; card lists Rays) – .258/.314/.723, 10 HR, 29 RBI, 8 SB (MLB Stats – 14 Games – .213/.275/.530, 0 HR, 4 RBI, 0 SB)
Travis Banwart (A’s – AAA) – 3.80, 9-7, 0 SV, 60 BB/130 K – currently playing in Arizona Fall League
Anthony Varvaro (Mariners – MLB) – 4.02, 1-3, 9 SV 35 BB/72 K (MLB Stats – 4 Games as September call-up – 11.25 ERA, 0-1, 0 SV, 6 BB/5 K)
Jhonny Nunez (White Sox – AAA; card lists Nationals) – 4.53, 6-6, 1 SV, 36 BB/83 K
David Wood (Royals – A) – Did not play in 2010, still listed as Active
DJ Jones (Rays – A) – Did not play in 2010, still listed as Active
Larry Williams (Braves) – last played in High A in 2007. Now appears to be out of baseball (not on MiLB.com).
Steve Garrison (Yankees – Previously Padres – AA) – 5.37, 2-4, 0 SV, 18 BB/38 K – Previously had no 2010 data. Played in 17 games. Claimed off Waivers by Yankees.
Ivan Nova (Yankees – MLB) – 2.86, 12-3, 0 SV, 48 BB/115 K (MLB Stats – 10 Games – 4.50, 1-2, 0 SV, 17 BB/26 K)
Jaime Pedroza (Dodgers – AA) – .280/.378/.779, 7 HR, 37 RBI, 11 SB
Zach Britton (Orioles – AAA) – 2.70, 10-7, 0 SV, 51 BB/124 K
Jake Arrieta (Orioles – MLB) – 1.85, 6-2, 0 SV, 34 BB/64 K (MLB Stats – 18 Games as a Starter – 4.66, 6-6, 0 SV, 48 BB/52 K)
Luis De La Cruz (Cardinals – AA) – .198/.235/.592, 2 HR, 11 RBI, 0 SB – Previously had no 2010 data. Played in 37 games.
Alan Farina (Blue Jays – AA) – 1.29, 3-1, 6 SV, 20 BB/74 K – currently in the Arizona Fall League
Helder Velazquez (Rockies – A) – .223/.270/.563, 2 HR, 25 RBI, 6 SB
Danny Brezeale (Braves) – last played in A Ball in 2007. Now appears to be out of baseball (not on MiLB.com).
Bryan Morris (Pirates – AA; card lists Dodgers) – 3.03, 9-4, 0 SV, 38 BB/124 K
Lucas Duda (Mets – MLB) – .304/.398/.967, 23 HR, 87 RBI, 1 SB (MLB stats – 29 Games – .202/.261/.678, 4 HR, 13 RBI, 0 SB)
Eric Barrett (Braves – Rookie Ball) – Did not play in 2010, listed as Released
Mitch Canham (Padres – AA) – .219/.302/.618, 4 HR, 27 RBI, 1 SB
Ryan Mullins (Twins – AAA) – 4.60, 4-7, 0 SV, 26 BB/58 K
Yamaico Navarro (Red Sox – MLB) – .275/.356/.793 – 11 HR, 61 RBI, 18 SB (MLB stats – 20 Games – .143/.174/.317, 0 HR, 5 RBI, 0 SB)
Carlos Santana (Indians – MLB; card lists Dodgers) – .316/.447/1.044, 13 HR, 51 RBI, 6 SB (MLB stats – 46 Games – .260/.401/.868, 6 HR, 22 RBI, 3 SB)
Sergio Morales (White Sox – A) – Did not play in 2010, still listed as Active
Zhenwang Zhang (Yankess) – apparently the first player born in the People’s Republic of China to sign a MLB contract with the permission of the China Baseball Association – doesn’t appear to have played a game in the minors or majors
Our Autographed Card: Jordan Schafer (Braves – AA) – .201/.268/.524, 1 HR, 14 RBI, 12 SB (Schafer did play in the MLB in 2009 and in 50 games had a line of .204/.313/.600, 2 HR, 8 RBI, 2 SB)
Players that made it to the majors: 7 (up from 2 – not counting Schafer)
Players out of baseball: 4 (up from 3 – not counting active but did not play)
Players promoted to next level: 15
Players demoted to lower level: 2
First impression – What a difference a few months makes, eh? When I first made this list, I had no clue who Carlos Santana was (other than the guitarist, of course), and now he’s considered one of the top rookies to keep your eye on. I’m seeing a few more names that have become more recognizable as well such as Jake Arrieta, and Ivan Nova. I also expected to see a couple more guys moved in trades.
Second impression – Most of these guys improved, which is an encouraging sign and actually a little surprising. I expected to see a couple more demotions and even a couple more dropouts already.
Guys to watch: Furbush is still a strikeout machine (who jumped 2 levels), Justin Henry improved nicely, Mejia brought up the avg to aid his power, Bryan Morris still is quite impressive, Duda may still be decent in the majors, and Santana seems to be doing pretty well in the majors so far. Basically the same guys as before.
We’ll check in again mid-way through next year. I bet some of those non-active guys will be dropped from the rosters by then, which will make that list easier to manage. Checking in on these guys is growing on me. I’m not going to go so far as to say I’m willing to prospect or anything, but this could at least help me follow the minors a little more closely, which can’t be a bad thing.
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