Tracking Our ’08 Bowman Prospects

Hey, everybody.  Sorry about the lack of posts lately.  I’ve been busy working on behind the scenes stuff with my other website, www.itsnotabook.com – you’re favorite website for funny videos.  Remember, if it’s worth watching, itsnotabook.com.  Andy’s going to be out and about and probably away from the computer until later this month as well.  Trust me, the lack of updates has nothing to do with my personal lack of enthusiasm or excitement for/towards the hobby, unlike some of what I’ve been reading.  I wouldn’t be picking players to collect if that was the case.

Speaking of that, I’m working on getting my list of Maddux cards soon, but it takes a while to format a spreadsheet with over 10,000 cards.  This is going to be fun!  If anybody’s looking to trade or donate Theriot, Dempster, and/or Maddux cards, you can safely assume I’m going to need just about all of them.

Coming up soon on the blog will be our written review of the 2008 Bowman Chrome box we opened recently.  In the meantime, we’re going prospectin’!  Git out yer sifters and pick axes!  Below, you’ll find a list of all the prospects we got in the box.  It’s a little long, so I’m placing every other line in bold for readability.  Feel free to seek out your favorite team.  All are available for those who would like to indulge their prospecting thrills.  We can follow their progress without the physical card.

We’ll be following up with these guys every few months or so as an experiment.  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.  Sorry for the lack of pictures.  There’ll be several in the review – promise!  Stats are up to date as of today.

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

Jeudy Valdez (Padres – A) – .252/.324/.741, 2 HR, 13 RBI, 9 SB
Duke Welker (Pirates – A) – 2.25, 1-0, 0 SV, 13 BB/11 K
Johan Limonta (Mariners – AA) – .321/.328/.864, 3 HR, 16 RBI, 2 SB
Justin Henry (Tigers – AA) – .194/.275/.582, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 3 SB
Fabio Castillo (Rangers – A) – 2.31, 0-1, 0 SV, 8 BB/15 K
Brandon MaGee (Blue Jays – AA) – has not pitched in 2010, still listed as Active
Charlie Furbush (Tigers – High A) – 3.67, 2-3, 0 SV, 9 BB/49 K
Jose Vallejo (Astros – AAA; card lists Rangers) – has not played in 2010, still listed as Active
Hector Rondon (Indians – AAA) – 8.79, 1-3, 0 SV, 9 BB/30 K
Ernesto Mejia (Royals – AA; card lists Braves) – .245/.304/.764, 6 HR, 21 RBI, 0 SB
Rhyne Hughes (Orioles – MLB; card lists Rays) – .237/.310/.599, 0 HR, 4 RBI, 0 SB
Travis Banwart (A’s – AA) – 3.67, 4-0, 0 SV, 15 BB/28 K
Anthony Varvaro (Mariners – AA) – 2.45, 0-1, 3 SV 9 BB/19 K
Jhonny Nunez (White Sox – AA; card lists Nationals) – 5.04, 0-3, 0 SV, 13 BB/25 K
David Wood (Royals – A) – has not played in 2010, still listed as Active
DJ Jones (Rays – A) – has not played in 2010, still listed as Active
Larry Williams (Braves) – last played in High A in 2007.  Now appears to be out of baseball.
Steve Garrison (Padres – AA) – has not played in 2010, currently on 7-day DL
Ivan Nova (Yankees – MLB) – has not pitched for the MLB club as of this writing, but on 25-man roster
Jaime Pedroza (Dodgers – AA) – .268/.381/.747, 1 HR, 8 RBI, 2 SB
Zach Britton (Orioles – AA) – 4.37, 2-3, 0 SV, 11 BB/24 K
Jake Arrieta (Orioles – AAA) – 1.67, 3-1, 0 SV, 24 BB/36 K
Luis De La Cruz (Cardinals – Rookie Ball) – has not played yet in 2010, still listed as Active
Alan Farina (Blue Jays – High A) – 3.00, 0-0, 0 SV, 7 BB/14 K
Helder Velazquez (Rockies – A) – .173/.185/.512, 2 HR, 6 RBI, 2 SB
Danny Brezeale (Braves) – last played in A Ball in 2007.  Now appears to be out of baseball.
Bryan Morris (Pirates – High A; card lists Dodgers) – 0.66, 3-0, 0 SV, 5 BB/36 K
Lucas Duda (Mets – AA) – .296/.429/.983, 6 HR, 30 RBI, 0 SB
Eric Barrett (Braves – Rookie Ball) – has not played yet in 2010, still listed as Active
Mitch Canham (Padres – AA) – .184/.287/.563, 1 HR, 11 RBI, 1 SB
Ryan Mullins (Twins – AAA) – 4.58, 2-2, 0 SV, 10 BB/25 K
Yamaico Navarro (Red Sox – AA) – .258/.367/.731 – 1 HR, 8 RBI, 4 SB
Carlos Santana (Indians – AAA; card lists Dodgers) – .314/.444/.974, 5 HR, 25 RBI, 3 SB
Sergio Morales (White Sox – A) – has not played yet 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) – only 1 game played, just promoted from A ball where his line was .273/.385/.748, 0 HR, 1 RBI, 2 SB

Players currently in the majors:  2
Players out of baseball:  3

First impression – What’s up with Atlanta’s prospects dropping out so soon like that?  Is there some sort of inside story I don’t know about?  I couldn’t find anything online about why they wouldn’t be playing still.

Second impression – Wow, were we off about Schafer being in the majors already.  Oops.

Guys to watch:  Limonata appears all around good, Furbush is a strikeout machine, Mejia is power but no AVG, Bryan Morris should be promoted now, Duda is crushing the ball, and Santana is making the Dodgers regret letting him go.

I don’t really follow the minors, but this was interesting to me.  It may take a couple years to realize the full potential of the box, but I guess with prospecting the fun is watching the slow burn turn into a blaze rather than watching a fireworks blast.  Hmmm…my metaphors need work.  Better send them down to the minors.