2013 Heritage Minors Team Set

I like Topps Heritage.  I said it, let's move on.
I came across someone selling the Pirates team set from Heritage Minors and pulled the $8 trigger for ten cards.  Dilson Herrera is no longer part of the organization as he was the centerpiece to the trade that brought Marlon Byrd, John Buck, and cash to the Pirates for their playoff push.

Of the 9 players still with the organization, 4 of them are listed as top 100 prospects in baseball (Taillon, Heredia, Hanson, and Polanco).  One is not too far removed from being on that list and if he can prove he's healthy, will likely return to being a top prospect (Josh Bell).

The Pirates future is bright, but....

The future star of this set though is Jameson Taillon (seen below)

My newest COMC haul

I recently made a small purchase on COMC for my Charlie Morton player collection and a few other cards that I wanted to add to the treasure room.

The Morton gem of the lot was a "Hope" parallel numbered 59/60.  I've been after one of these for awhile, but with a print run of only 60 they don't pop up too often.  When I saw this card, I decided to add some other items to my shopping cart and complete my purchase.  If it wasn't for this card, I probably would not have bought the others.

The card is numbered 59/60 and cost me just shy of $5.  I still need the printing plates for the card, and the Topps factory set parallels.

I also picked up a couple 2012 Topps variants I was still chasing

I needed the mini despite having the black printing plate for the card.

The red Target parallel and gold sparkle parallel.

The gold parallel numbered 566/2012

a 2008 Bowman Chrome blue border parallel numbered 32/99

From rehabbing pitcher to future ace, I also grabbed a Simpsons hand full of Taillon cards for $3.

I got 3 base cards of the young right hander.  2012 Topps Heritage Minors, 2012 Bowman Platinum and 2011 TriStar Pursuit.

I even managed to grab a jersey relic of Jameson for under $2 from the unlicensed company Onyx.

Since many of you may be unaware of the Onyx brand of unlicensed cards, I included a scan of the back.  This particular jersey is numbered 139/500

For $1.26 I also grabbed a game used relic of one of my favorite players here at the PTR, Dave Parker.  It's an unnumbered UD Heroes of Baseball bat relic from 2001.

It will go nicely with my Mad Dog bat relic from the same series.

Pedro Alvarez is the type of player that many fans can lose sleep over.  Personally I'm a huge fan of El Toro.  When he's swinging the bat well he can carry an offense.  When he's not in the zone, you'd rather send up a pitcher to pinch hit.  There's no doubt about it though that the man has incredible strength.

Check out the above video for some of his raw power.

I grabbed 4 cards of El Toro that I needed for my collection.  These were some of the most expensive cards I purchased with each card averaging a buck and a quarter a piece.  Each card is from 2011 Topps except the 2008 TriStar Plus Prospects (3rd card).  I didn't have any atomic refractors until I got this one of Pedro and I have to say, I love these cards.  They look like glass shattering and when light hits them they really pop.    The top 2 cards are from box store exclusives.  The Blue Diamond insert is exclusive to Wal Marts and the 2nd card is exclusive to Target Hanger packs.

One player who has not been struggling at the plate for the Bucs this year is Starling Marte.  He's having a season simlilar to what Cutch did last year.  Through May 4th he's posted a .328/.394/.513 line for an OPS of .907.  That's not a bad line for a corner outfielder.  When you consider that his natural position is centerfield, that's even more impressive.  He's leading the NL with 10 steals while also hitting 4 HRs and driving in 15 RBI.  

Because I will never get a pack of Spring Fever or Turkey Red, I figured it be fairly cheap to pick these two base cards of Starling up for $2.50 total.

To finish things off I got 2 autographs of Pirates prospects.

Stetson Allie was a highly touted flame throwing pitcher the Pirates drafted in the 2nd round of the 2010 draft.  In 2012, the Pirates turned the high risk/high reward prospect into a corner infielder.  His numbers through 2013 are monsterous and he has become the top slugging prospect in the farm system for the Bucs.  I recently did a prospect profile on him where I had showed off some of the cards I have of the 22 year old. The above ITG Heroes and Prospects auto cost me $2.25 and is now my 6th autograph.

Wyatt Mathisen is currently ranked the Pirates 15th best prospect, just one behind the highest ranked catcher, Tony Sanchez, in the farm system.  Mathisen is still very young, 19 years old.  He's currently struggling in A ball batting .182, but will be given many chances to prove himself as the everyday starter for West Virginia.  Last year while playing in the Gulf Coast league, he batted .295 with a very solid K:BB ratio (basically 1 to 1).  The raw skills are there for the young backstop.  The on card auto of Wyatt ran me $2.65.

Pirates Prospects: Stetson Allie

2011 Bowman Chrome AUTO

Stetson Allie was a highly touted raw pitching prospect when the Pirates selected him in the 2nd round of the  2010 draft.  The Pirates had already grabbed the highest ranked high school pitcher Jameson Taillon in the 1st round with the 2nd overall pick.

2011 ITG DUAL AUTO Jameson Taillon & Stetson Allie

Allie went on to sign for $2.25 million and debuted with the short season State College Spikes in 2011 putting up sub par numbers.

2011 Donruss Elite Extra Edition Back to the Future AUTO /220

2010 Donruss Elite Extra Edition AUTO 83/599

He had a 6.58 ERA with a 28K to 29BB ratio over 26 innings.  He did reach triple digits a couple times in his outings, but it became obvious he was a thrower and not quite ready to be a pitcher yet.

2011 Topps Heritage Minors Red Tin /620

2011 Topps Heritage Minors Jersey Relic

In 2012 he made he began the season in A ball retiring only 2 outs while walking 8 and allowing 1 hit over the course of two games.  Shortly after his walk infested outing, the Pirates announced they would convert the flamethrowing million dollar draft pick to a corner infielder.

He played in the Gulf Coast leage batting .213 and collecting 3 HR over the course of 42 games.

Fast forward to the 2013 season.

Stetson Allie has become the most raw power hitter the Pirates have in the organization.

2012 ITG Heroes & Prospects Lumbergraphs AUTO

He leads the team's affiliates in nearly every offensive category.  He's hitting at a .367/.435/.658 line with 6HR and 20 RBI over the course of 19 games.  His OPS is an incredible 1.093.

McCutchen Monday on MLB Draft day

I'm going to be getting ready to watch the MLB draft in a couple hours and am really looking forward to it.  As a Pirates fan, it's one thing we always look forward to each year.  The 2005 draft was loaded with talent and the Pirates selected from Fort Meade, Florida a young man known as Andrew McCutchen.  Cutch worked his way up the ranks to make his debut in 2009.  He hasn't slowed down yet.

The 2012 Topps Tribute card above makes me laugh when I see Cutch's face.  Baseball players sure do make some goofy ass faces when throwing a ball.  That seems like a fun future post.

The Bucs select 8th overall tonight.  Hopefully they draft an impact player like Cutch is.

UPDATE:
Stetson Allie, the highly touted flame throwing pitching prospect the Pirates selected in the 2nd round of 2010 has been converted to a 3B.  After walking 8 batters in 2/3 of an inning this year, the Pirates organization has decided to pull the plug on the Allie experiment and just let him hit HR.  Coming out of high school Allie was a 2 way player.  He had a fast ball that could reach triple digits with ease and could also hit towering homeruns.  He instantly becomes one of the top power bats in the organization now.

In another move, the Pirates have promoted 2009 1st round draft pick Tony Sanchez to AAA. 

Bryce Harper AUTO and a rant

Last year I showed off my dual auto of Bryce Harper and Jameson Taillon from 2011 Bowman I got as a birthday gift.  Since Harper will face off against the Pirates tonight, I think it's fitting to show it off again.

There's been a lot of Bryce Harper hate going on lately, but I love the guy.  He plays the game the way it's meant to be played.  Hopefully he keeps that hustle up his entire career.  If he does, he will likely be inducted into Cooperstown one day because his talent level is through the roof. 

Bryce Harper was selected by the Washington Nationals 1st overall in his first year of being eligible for the draft.

Last night, Chunter (who runs an awesome Braves blog) asked if "And btw, do the Pirates fans regret not having Bryce Harper (could they have gotten him) or do they just hate him like everyone else? They probably could have taken a shot at him. Then again, his agent was (is) Scott Boras..."

Had the Pirates finished the 2009 season with a worse record than the Nationals did, I think the Pirates would have selected Bryce Harper regardless of who his agent is.  I'm going to go on a little rant now and it's in no way meant to offend anyone, but I'm tired of people thinking that the Pirates front office is afraid of dealing with Scott Boras and that the team is cheap.

Prior to Bob Nutting taking over primary ownership of the Pirates in 2007, yes the Pirates chose to not deal with Scott Boras clients and they were cheap in how they handled their business.  This was proven by the Pirates selecting college relief pitcher Daniel Moskos instead  of one of the top catching prospects to come along in a generation Matt Wieters.  This was also proven when the Pirates chose to not go after Prince Fielder or BJ Upton in the 2002 draft when they selected Bryan Bullington.  After the draft, the then front office stated that they saw Bullington as a solid #3 or #4 starter.  You don't use the #1 overall selection to draft a midrotation starting pitcher.

The current Pirates front office doesn't shy away from Scott Boras represented draftees.  In the current front office's first draft they selected the Scott Boras represented, power hitting lefty Pedro Alvarez.  Pedro has had an interesting start to his young career, but if the end of the 2010 season and most recent 2 weeks have proven, Pedro Alvarez has intense power that can change the game with a single swing of the bat.  I think that Pedro will be a fixture in Pittsburgh for years to come.

The only notable Boras client in the 2009 draft when the Pirates could select was prep pitcher Jacob Turner.  The Pirates felt that the 2009 draft was very deep in prep pitchers and chose to instead grab college catcher Tony Sanchez who could help build strong relationships with some of that prep talent selected in later rounds.  They had a plan and targeted Sanchez not because Turner was a Boras agent, but because they felt they could get similar pitchers to Turner in later rounds which is exactly what they did.  Based on Turner's pro career so far, it doesn't look like he would have been a sure fire can't miss prospect anyway.  Besides Stephen Strasburg and Dustin Ackley no player from this draft has emerged as a superstar. 

In 2010, the Pirates had missed the opportunity to get Bryce Harper, but there were other Boras clients still on the board when the Pirates selected 2nd.  The Pirates instead chose to go after prep starting pitcher and future ace Jameson Taillon.  Jameson was not only the best prep pitcher in the 2010 draft, but also considered by many scouts to be the best pitcher in the entire draft with comparisons to Josh Beckett and Roger Clemens.  The Pirates then gave Taillon the largest draft signing bonus in the history of the franchise and also signed fireballing prep pitcher Stetson Allie who many teams thought was unsignable.

 In 2011, the Pirates held no punches back in going big and drafting Scott Boras represented players.  They selected previous NY Yankee 1st rounder Gerrit Cole with the 1st overall pick.  Cole is compared to pitching superstars Stephen Strasburg and Justin Verlander early in his pro career.

With the 1st pick on day 2 of the 2011 draft, the Pirates went after the unsignable Josh Bell and offered him the largest draft bonus awarded to a 2nd rounder EVER.  Josh Bell was represented by Boras and had sent letters to teams stating that he fully intended to attend college and don't draft him.  Proving my point that the current Pirates front office was not afraid of Boras, they drafted him and signed him.  He recently injured his knee playing in A ball, but looks like the power hitting switch hitter the Pirates drafted prior to getting injured.

So in my very long winded response, no the Pirates would not have passed up Bryce Harper if he was still on the board when the Pirates selected #2 overall in 2010.  The Pirates front office will spend money when it makes sense (see Andrew McCutchen's 6 year contract extension, bringing in Derrek Lee at the trade deadline last year, and the enormous amount of spending in recent drafts).

All that being said, I'm very happy with the Pirates getting Jameson Taillon in the 2010 draft.  Here's his numbers so far for the 2012 season as a 20 year old.
1.76 ERA
30.2 IP
33K
0.82WHIP (6 Walks/19 Hits)
.172 opponents batting average
0 HR allowed

Yup I'll take a future Verlander/Clemens/Beckett ace like pitcher with 6+ years of control.

DON'T FORGET TO ROOT FOR THE BUCS TO WIN THE SERIES AGAINST THE NATIONALS TO TRY TO WIN SOME FREE CARDS. 

Some sweet COMC Pickups

I saw a very limited dual auto of the Pirates 2010 Top Draft Picks (Jameson Taillon and Stetson Allie) on COMC and decided to use some of the money in my paypal account to pick up some other fun cards for my collection.  So for the price of two blasters, here's what I got.

a couple presteroid cards of Barry Bonds.  Notice how much bigger his head is compared to his body before going into San Fransisco.  LOL! I also got a Jay Bell(hop) card which just looked fun.  Well worth the price of a gumball for all 3 cards.

I picked up just a few cards for the player collection with not a single card costing me more than .55 which includes an Andy Van Slyke 1985 Topps Rookie Card

I also got a couple Heritage cards I needed getting me closer for my team sets to being completed.  I picked up 2 of Nate Baker because I'm hoping to get one signed at a future AA Altoona game.

I couldn't pass up these numbered parallels for the asking prices.  They ranged from .25 to $1.15.
Bonds 1125/1992
Taillon 284/309
Milledge 1595/2010
Vogelsong 573/2006

The above 4 autographs were all picked up for less than a $1 each.  Sure there's no HOF candidates in there, but it's nice to get on card autographs of Bucs from yesteryear. 
Tony Womack is 99th on the alltime steals list with 363 (122 in a Pirates uniform).
Kevin Young is 10th All Time on the Pirates HR list with 136 HR wearing a Pirates uniform. 
Al Martin is 18th all time on the Pirates HR list with 107 HR wearing a Bucs uniform. 
Brad Eldred...he was the first Pirate to hit a HR that my girlfriend and I attended a game together.  He also has 240 minor league homeruns which is ridiculous numbers.

I finished off 2 Topps team sets from 1971 and 1973.  I also got two nice looking vintage Gene Alley cards.

A COMC box wouldn't be complete unless it had some Jason Bay jersey cards in it so I picked up 3.  I'm really digging that 4 piece Canada jersey from 2006 Sweet Spot Sweet Beginnings.  The 08 Topps and 07 Sweet Spot cards were had for $1.99 and $2.50 respectively.

This was the big hit of my COMC purchase.  A dual auto from 2011 In The Game Heroes & Prospects of 2010 1st round draft pick Jameson Taillon and 2010 2nd round draft pick Stetson Allie.  This card had a print run of 15, but is not numbered.

Pirates Top Pitching Prospects

Here's a listing of the Pirates Top 10 Prospects heading into the 2012 season by MLB.com.

1. Jameson Taillon
2. Gerrit Cole
3. Starling Marte
4. Josh Bell
5. Stetson Allie
6. Luis Heredia
7. Tony Sanchez8. Robbie Grossman
9. Jeff Locke
10. Justin Wilson

I covered Marte, Bell, and Grossman in my previous posts on outfielders of the future and have talked extensively about Tony Sanchez in the past.  Since everyone else on this list is a pitcher, I plan on talking about the Pirates top pitching prospects and some that didn't make the Top 10 overall list.  I'm not going to focus too much on Gerrit Cole or Jameson Taillon.  Their exposure over the past two seasons should speak for themselves.  Both are ranked in the top 15 of all prospects in baseball.  To the best of my knowledge, the Pirates have never had 2 pitchers rank that high. So instead of getting scouting reports on both of them, you just get to see these cards below. I am so excited to see these guys come up together and see them both become top of the rotation starters for the Pirates.

Taillon 2010 Bowman Chrome AUTO

 Taillon 2011 OBak

 Taillon 2011 Obak Oversized Box Topper (Mike Trout on back) 

numbered 9/80

Taillon 2009 UD USA Future Watch

AUTO/Jersey 555/899

Taillon 2009 UD USA By the Letter "S" AUTO 9/100

As if you couldn't tell I like to collect Jameson Taillon.  The guy has filthy pitches.

Gerrit Cole 2009 UD USA By the Letter "A" AUTO 41/100

Cole/Hosmer/Beckham 2008 OMR Draft Future Stars

Stetson Allie 2011 Heritage Minors Red Tint 355/620

Drafted in the 2nd round the same year the Pirates selected Jameson Taillon is Stetson Allie.  Allie was viewed as a 1st round talent for his radar busting heat he throws.  Despite not having much pitching experience in his career, he's still viewed as the Pirates 3rd best pitching prospect due to his upside. Allie throws hard, really really hard (clocked at up to 100MPH) but he lacks control.  In 2011 while a member of the State College Spikes (short season A ball) Allie had a monsterously high 10BB/9.  This lead to an inflated WHIP (1.88) and ERA (6.58).  Despite the lack of control, he still managed over a strikeout per inning which is a good sign.  Allie must continue to focus on his fastball control if he wishes to become a MLB starter or future closer for the Pirates. 

2011 Leaf Metal Black Valiant 4/5 AUTO

What's not to love about a 16 year old that can throw in the mid90s?  That's what many teams asked when top Latin American pitching prospect Luis Heredia became age eligible to sign.  It's far too early to project Heredia as he's barely old enough to drive in some states.  However in 30 IP in the Gulf Coast leage, Heredia racked up 23 punchouts while only surrendering 3 homeruns.  He will most likely begin the season in short season State College to continue his advance. 

Jeff Locke and Justin Wilson were part of the "Altoona 4" pitching staff that won the Eastern League Championship for the Altoona Curve in 2010.  Justin Wilson was named MVP of that series by averaging a K per inning and surrendering shoutout innings. 

Locke was aquired along with Charlie Morton and Gorkys Hernandez from the Braves farm system as part of the 2009 trade that sent beloved fan favorite Nate McLouth to Atlanta.  Locke began the 2011 season repeating in AA before a midseason promotion to AAA.  In September, Locke was called up to began his MLB career when he faced the Florida Marlins on September 10th.  Locke struggled with his command in his first 4 professional outings, but looks to be able to contend for a rotation spot when the season start should the Pirates need a spot start or injuries to the staff occur. 

Justin Wilson has been moving up the minor league 1 level per season since being drafted out of college.  He struggled in AAA Indy last year and was moved to the bullpen to finish out the year.  His fastball velocity increased once the move happened and was clocked at up to 99MPH which is incredibly hard for a lefty.  If he can work on his command, his hard throwing fastball and off speed breaking balls should enable him to see time in Pittsburgh before the year is over.


Outside of the Pirates Top 10 prospects exist guys like Kyle McPherson, Zach Von Rosenberg, Colton Cain, Trent Stevenson, and Clay Holmes.  All were selected out of high school and could project to be solid pitchers in the Pirates future.  While they don't have the pure heat of guys like Cole, Taillon, Heredia, or Allie they all show good signs.

When discussing Pirates pitching prospects who have shown success in 2011, Kyle McPherson comes to mind.  Voted the Pirates minor league pitcher of the year, McPherson started in Bradenton (A) before being promoted to Altoona (AA) to finish out the year.  During his breakout campaign in 2011, McPherson controlled the strike zone very well, averaging just a hair under 8K/9 while maintaining a 1.02 WHIP.  He will continue to develop in AAA and may see time in Pittsburgh by the end of the 2012 season.

 ZVR 2010 Tristar Opak AUTO 27/50

ZVR 2010 Tristar Pursuit Green AUTO 24/25

 ZVR 2009 Donruss Elite Extra Edition AUTO 384/770

Zach Von Rosenberg or ZVR as I will refer to him from now is the kind of pitcher that the Pirates like to draft in recent years.  He's tall, throws hard, and is very projectable out of high school.  Despite giving up a freakishly amount of homeruns to start the 2011 season, ZVR showed great improvements during the 2nd half finishing with a 8.2 K/9.  He will most likely begin the season in playing A ball in Bradenton.

Trent Stevenson threw a very impressive 11 strikeouts per 9 innings as a junior at Brophy Jesuit Prep.  The 6-foot-6 righty struggled in West Virginia (low A) last season and was demoted to short season State College.  His command over his minor league career has been pretty good (1.92 BB/9), but he hasn't missed many bats either as hitters get an average of 1.22 HIP.  I think that if he can just retool his mechanics to better hide the ball, he will become a better pitcher and start to increase his K/9 which currently sits at only 4.4.

I've mentioned Colton Cain on this blog before and think that he is the best LHP prospect the Pirates have.  He throws in the mid90s and is a very polished pitcher despite being in only short season A ball.  If he can continue to improve and pound the strike zone, he should start moving up the system quicker.

 2011 Donruss Elite Extra Edition Aspirations AUTO 40/100

Clay Holmes was the top pitching prep arm in Alabama entering the 2011 draft.  The Pirates had to go well over slot to sign him away from his Auburn commitment and has not yet made his minor league debut.  As a senior, he struck out 89 while pitching only 60 innings.  He has the projection to be a front of the rotation power arm due to his raw tools.  It may take a few more years for him to develop than all the other pitching prospects the Pirates have in the system, but when he hits the majors WATCH OUT!