Bowman almost seems to be throwing the series the way things have gone so far. No refractors, no real spectacular rookies and two lousy Bonds cards. If I want to pull a Bonds, I'll buy an Updates and Highlights pack, thanks. I half expect to pull an Abe Attell card out of Bowman tonight. TriStar has a slight advantage due to a smaller checklist that is almost exclusively draft picks, but they've used up their guaranteed autograph trump card already. It's still wide open, let's open up pack 4:
Bowman:BDP34 Matt Brown
BDP51 Kevin Slowey
BDPP Chrome Danny Rams
BDPP Chrome Chris Coghlan
BDP54 Gold Mark Reynolds
BDPP97 Brent Lillibridge
BDPP108 Carlos Gonzalez
TriStar:98 Mitch Hilligoss
46 Will Kline
PT-MS Max Scherzer
64 Matt LaPorta
42 Kevin Ahrens
45 Andrew Brackman
Bowman did better this time. Three green RC's and a draft pick ain't bad. Brown and Reynolds appear to be true RCs, and Reynolds could be in the mix at third for the D-Backs next year. The best is Kevin Slowey, who pitched well for the Twins last year and could be a part of their rotation soon. Danny Rams is another Twins farmhand, the 18 year old catching prospect was taken in the second round last year. Now that I've noticed it, I'm getting irritated that all the photos of the Futures game players are in the batters box from the third base side. Three of these cards should doom this pack, but one is of Braves center field prospect Brent Lillibridge. Brent is actually a shortstop, but he's blocked by Yunel Escobar and has been thrown into the mix in the battle to replace Andruw Jones.
From what I've seen so far, the Protential inserts out of TriStar feature hot prospects from last year's draft. Max Scherzer fits that bill, he was the D-Backs' first round pick in '06 and looks like he could eventually end up being a decent starter one day. He's got a long way to go as he pitched with AA Mobile last year. The draft picks are all decent, but Andrew Brackman had Tommy John surgery almost immediately after getting drafted by the Yankees. Matt LaPorta is probably the best card out of the pack, but he's a Florida Gator, so I can't get too exited about it. I actually saw Mitch Hilligoss play last August against the Rome Braves. I don't remember what he did on the field, but he signed some autographs for some kids right in front of where I was sitting.
This was a hard one to judge, but a Brave trumps a Gator. Bowman ties the series 2-2.Oh, and Happy Birthday Elvis!!!
Kevin Slowey looks like he could be really good or at least functional in the Twins rotation. It will probably be sooner rather than later, considering they traded Matt Garza.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to at least see Slowey pitch in person once this year, but for some reason every time I head off to catch a game at the Dome Boof Bonser is failing, excuse me, pitching.