Sick patch from Tyler Glasnow in Immaculate

Immaculate Collection has some incredible patches in their card sets.  The problem with most of the nonstars or prospects is that they aren't game used.  They aren't even event used.  Nope.  Instead they are player worn.  This means that the player put the jersey on while doing a signing for them, quickly took it off, and it got hacked up. 

Some of the recent Austin Meadows, Tyler Glasnow, and Cole Tucker patches that they have put out include patches celebrating the 1979 World Series team or Three Rivers stadium. 

Gorgeous part of an "S" from the Pirates home white jersey

Unfortunately like I said...

Player worn...

Regardless of what the jersey is from, the patch looks incredible and it features the #2 pitching prospect in baseball. Hopefully Tyler can come up midsummer and just dominate hitters as the Pirates look to push for another playoff bound season.

Glasnow Patch, WOW!!!

It's my first Tyler Glasnow jersey relic and for the price I paid for this "player worn" unlicensed card, I couldn't pass it up.

Going Green: Tyler Glasnow Autograph

I just don't know what to say about Tyler Glasnow that I haven't said already.  I flat out can't wait for him to get to the majors.  He's got incredible stuff.

For less than $12 delivered, I couldn't resist adding another autograph of the super pitching prospect to my collection, even if it is a sticker auto.

He made his Spring Training debut yesterday going 1 inning and striking out 2 batters.

2 for 1 Tuesdays

Earlier in the month, I showed off a pair of pink Gregory Polanco cards and now I'm going to do the same for Tyler Glasnow.

I already showed off a Rize auto of Glasnow, but the price on these things were soooo cheap that I had to pick them up while I could.  These were bought for around $12 long before he debuted on a Bowman Chrome card and before this season when he continued to dominate and became MiLB pitcher of the year.

I figured an image of Paulina Gretzky (blonde) and her model friend would help the 2 for Tuesdays

Arizona Fall League Kicks off today....

The Pirates had two stories today with the Arizona Fall league kicking off.  One story was Josh Bell, a 2011 2nd round draft pick, making his first professional start at 1st Base.  Bell went 0-4 in the game, striking out from both sides of the plate and grounding out once from each side of the plate.

The other story was super pitching prospect Tyler Glasnow who didn't even get out of the first inning while throwing only 29 pitches.  He struck a batter out, walked 3 batters, allowed a run to score on a throwing error on his behalf.  This pink parallel sticker auto ran me $13 delivered many many many months ago.  I grabbed another (with a different picture) that I will show off in the future.

Glasnow will likely begin his season in AA for 2015 and will likely be up in Pittsburgh come 2016 when he turns 22.

Black is the New Black: Tyler Glasnow is Back!

I'M NOT SURE WHY THIS DIDN'T POST 4 MONTHS AGO, BUT HERE IT IS...

I have stated numerous times how much I love Bowman Black autos.  I've got autographs of Gerrit Cole, Jameson Taillon, Starling Marte, Gregory Polanco, and Tyler Glasnow.  I recently added another Tyler Glasnow Bowman Black to the collection because the price was right.

This is the second I own and just recently purchased another, giving me 3 of the 25.  Maybe I can hunt down the other 22.  If you want to see the other Glasnow Bowman Black I bought, you can click here.

Black is the New Black: Tyler Glasnow Bowman Black Auto AGAIN

This is my 3rd copy of the 2013 Bowman Black auto numbered to 25.  This copy is numbered 2/25.

I didn't get it for a steal, but it was the cheapest of the bunch that I have grabbed.

Black is the New Black: Tyler Glasnow is ridiculous!!!!

I've shown off several Bowman Black autographs in the past which you can see by clicking on their names below
Jameson Taillon
Gerrit Cole
Starling Marte

It was just a little over a month ago when I posted my Taillon Bowman Black and stated "Taillon is the one that most excites me."  Well Jameson is currently undergoing Tommy John Surgery and will likely not make it to the majors until 2015.  It's very likely that the young man I am showing off today could join him in that rotation at some point next season.

The below auto ran me $70 and is one of 3 black Glasnow autos that I currently own

2013 Bowman Black Tyler Glasnow 20/25

Tyler Glasnow!

This young right hander is exciting to watch pitch.  I got a chance to see him pitch for the West Virginia Power last year and he looks to be practically unhittable as evidenced by his 54 hits allowed against 452 batters faced.  Go ahead and read that again if you want.
54 hits allowed against 452 BATTERS FACED!  That's ridiculous, right?
Want some more numbers?
Ok how about of those 452 batters faced, he struck out 164 of them in only 111 innings.  That translated to a 13.3 SO/9 rate.  Insane, right?
Well how about the fact that he did all that as a 19 year old.
Yeah this kid is something special.  He makes his season debut tonight for the Florida State League Bradenton Marauders.

Tyler Glasnow Patch and OnCard Auto!

Keith Law recently released his Top 100 Prospects in baseball and I was surprised to see that Tyler Glasnow ranked higher than Jameson Taillon.  While I considering them both to be incredible talents, I still consider Taillon to be higher.  Glasnow was ranked 20th by Law which was the highest anyone ranked him prior to the start of the 2014 season.

2013 Leaf Trinity Tyler Glasnow AUTO/PATCH

Recognizing how incredibly talented he is, I decided to buy this on card auto and patch of the teenage flamethrower.  This ran me $17.50 delivered around Christmas time and I couldn't be happier to add it to my collection.

Its not quite as nice as yesterday's dual relic/auto of Andrew McCutchen and Gerrit Cole but damn is this a great looking on card auto and patch for less than the price of a blaster.

Have you ever heard of this prospect?

Tyler Glasnow

You better learn the name!

I got to meet Tyler during the summer last year and managed to get a ball signed by him which is now proudly displayed in my collection.

Much like my reasons for not getting a Bowman Chrome AUTO of Gerrit Cole upon initial release, I've held off on grabbing a Tyler Glasnow auto for the same reason.  When 2013 Bowman Chrome initially hit, the base autos of Tyler were reaching as high as $30 a pop.  With several months of patience, I was finally able to grab one for under $12.

Though Tyler was only 19 for most of last year, he put up incredible numbers in A ball.
Here's his minor league career stats
Innings Pitched: 149.2
Strikeouts: 208 (12.5K/9)
Hits: 77 (4.6H/9)
Walks:: 78 (4.8BB/9)
WHIP: 1.036
ERA: 2.10

Assuming that Tyler will play in A+ ball to start the 2014 season and get promoted to AA mid season, if Tyler can cut down on the walk rate over the next two seasons in A+, AA, and AAA he will be a dominating arm to have at the back of the rotation for the Pirates entering 2016.  He's currently ranked #97 on MLB's top 100 prospects.

17 Reasons why Case Breaks sometimes SUCK

I participated in an ebay case break of 2013 Bowman Chrome and was highly disappointed with what I got.  17 cards, no refractors, no rainbow colors, no autos for $40.

I should have just used that money to buy a team set, a Tyler Glasnow base auto, and maybe a rainbow parallel or few.

I'll show the highlights of what I got first
1xGerrit Cole

2xStarling Marte

1xAndrew McCutchen

1xAJ Burnett

1xJose Bautista Bowman Rookie Reprint

Prospects
4xTyler Glasnow
4xMatt Curry
3xJin De Jhang

YUP!!!! This case break sucked!!!!
Just like losing to the Cardinals last night

Last minute road trip gets me 3 autographs of top prospects

A last minute idea for a road trip caused me to stop in Lakewood, NJ on Sunday August 11th to see the Phillies and Pirates A- ball teams collide.  The West Virginia Power (Pirates) were finishing up their road trip against the Lakewood BlueClaws (Phillies) and had won the previous 2 games of the series.  On paper, the Power should have came out swinging some big bats as the BlueClaws starter had issues throughout the season.  I got to the stadium around 4 pm for the 5:05 start and gates opened shortly after my arrival.  After finding my seat, I went to the 3rd base dugout to seek out some autographs.

Many players stopped by but I only had cards for 2 players on me and a cheap "official league" ball on hand.  Rather than get the ball signed by the entire team I held onto it waiting for certain players I wanted to display in my collection.  

Up first was 2013 Futures Game All-Star Dilson Herrera.  Dilson was extremely fan friendly signing close to a dozen cards for one guy and signing until everyone in the surrounding area got autographs.  He signed my ball right on the sweet spot.

From a distance I could see Tyler Glasnow signing and went into a little bit of a geek mode as I think Glasnow has the potential to be as good as the Pirates top pitching prospects (Cole and Taillon).  Tyler is only 19 years old and is dominating in A ball.  Through 97 innings pitched he has given up only 53 hits and has a 2.75 Strikeout to Walk ratio (140:51).  He only has a 2.50 ERA with an 8-3 record.  Not bad stats for a 19 year old in his first taste of full season ball.

As the game was getting ready to start, Josh Bell came over to sign for a bunch of fans as well.  When I first got there he told a couple fans he would be back to sign before the game and that he had to get loose first.  So often is the case with top prospects that they don't actually come back to sign for everyone.  Josh was the exception.  He signed cards, ticket stubs, balls, hats, photos, etc until everyone was taken care of.  He doesn't have a long name to sign for, but his signature is clean.  No squiggly signs or anything like that.  Also he was doing number inscriptions on everything he signed.  

2012 Leaf National Young Stars IP AUTO 

2013 Topps Pro Debut IP AUTO

Above are the 2 cards that Josh had signed for me before the game.  Below is the ball signed by all 3 of the Pirates top prospects.

Tyler Glasnow #24
Josh Bell #2

Dilson Herrera #31