Collecting Cleveland Indians Topps team sets from 1952-present, as well as post-war minor and major league autographs.
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[…]
Payton Henry is a pretty exciting young catching prospect. He was drafted in the 6th round (171st overall) by the Milwaukee Brewers in 2016 out of high school in Utah. He is a power bat and showed that tool off in Low-A when he hit .327/.380/.707 with 10 HR. What’s[…]
This is what I wrote about Rico Garcia in March 2015: Hawaii Pacific University, on Oahu, is probably most famous for it’s one Alumni that made the Majors, Benny Agbayani. Agbayani was drafted twice, in 1992 and 1993, both times by the Angels. He had a fine major league career: .806 OPS, 39[…]