7 Players Who Could Finally Make a Hobby Breakthrough This MLB Postseason
Major League Baseball’s 162-game regular season schedule makes plenty of heroes. But that doesn’t always make for heroes in the hobby. It’s not just the number of home runs a player hits or how many no-hitters a pitcher tosses that determines whether people start chasing their cards en masse.
Other variables also come into play like the team they play for and their age. If nobody’s around to hear a tree fall in an empty forest, how do people hear about a slugger playing in a small market without many nationally broadcast games?
When the postseason starts, the field shrinks and the spotlight is more direct. Heroes can be made over the course of a best-of-seven series, even without much coming before it. David Freese, anyone?
The 2017 MLB postseason has no shortage of great players, many of whom have already caught the attention of the hobby masses. But there are a handful of stars whose on-field achievements over the past few years hasn’t translated into similar status in the hobby.
Here are seven players who could finally breakthrough into top-tier status as the Boys of Summer give way to the Heroes of Fall. They aren’t strangers and they shouldn’t be common box fodder but they’re certainly overlooked to a certain extent. A World Series might finally make more notice how good they really are.
Paul Goldschmidt
If there was an award for the perennially Most Overlooked Player in baseball, it might as well be called the Paul Goldschmidt Award.
The guy is a run-producing machine. In his first six full seasons in the league, he’s averaged nearly 30 home runs (and that includes missing about a third of 2014) a year. You can pretty much guarantee Paul Goldschmidt is going to hit right around .300 and drive in over 100 runs.
It’s not just Goldschmidt’s bat, either. He’s one of the National League’s top fielding first basemen having won Gold Gloves in 2013 and 2015.
Simply put, Paul Goldschmidt is one of baseball’s top talents. And yet, his cards are still relatively cheap. You can land some nice autograph cards for under $30.
Prior to the start of the playoffs, Goldschmidt’s 2011 Bowman Chrome Prospect Autograph was going for about the same as Eloy Jimenez’s comparable 2017 card. And Jimenez still hasn’t played in a major league game. The Goldschmidt has seen a bit of a bump over the last couple of weeks and is currently a little more than Jimenez. An early playoff exit for the Diamondbacks and those positions will likely reverse in the off-season as prospecting kicks into high gear again.
Goldschmidt’s cards really should be higher, no matter what happens. Yes, he got off to a bit of a late start, which will likely slow his career numbers, but the Arizona first baseman is far better than his current hobby standing.
Paul Goldschmidt Baseball Card Checklist
Jose Altuve
When the dust settles and the end-of-year awards are handed out, Jose Altuve could very well be named the 2017 American League MVP. He’s the clutch spark plug for a potent Houston offense. He might not contend for a home run title, but can Altuve hit.
In each of the last four years, Altuve hasn’t gotten less than 200 hits. He’s won the AL Batting Title in three of those seasons.
And yet, where’s the hobby love outside of Houston?
Altuve plays with passion. He’s scrappy. Simply put, he’s fun to watch. And, yes, Altuve is capable of hitting for power and putting on a show in the postseason. Just ask the Red Sox.
Jose Altuve Baseball Card Checklist
Max Scherzer
Corey Kluber
Chris Sale
It takes a lot for pitchers to get love among collectors. Today, unless your last name rhymes with Mershaw or you’re a top prospect, there’s a chance that most of your cards are still very much affordable, even top rookies and prospect cards.
Max Scherzer, Corey Kluber and Chris Sale have been some of baseball’s most dominant pitchers for several years. Scherzer already won a pair of Cy Young Awards and could have a third within the next couple of months. Kluber won the AL Cy Young in 2014 and may win his second in 2017. If he doesn’t it should go to Chris Sale who was lights-out in virtually every start in his first season with Boston.
But pitchers are always one throw away from a career-derailing injury. They could get a bad case of the yips. Their velocity could drop with one bad tweak, taking them from extraordinary to just plain ordinary. Collectors have been burned a lot of times over the years by pitchers. And even those who turn out to be really good, like Stephen Strasburg, fail to live up to their initial hype.
We’re past the hype phase of Scherzer’s, Kluber’s and Sale’s careers. They’re superstars who are not just great pitchers. They’re stellar. Now might be the time when their cards finally reflect that.
Max Scherzer Baseball Card Checklist
Corey Kluber Baseball Card Checklist
Chris Sale Baseball Card Checklist
Francisco Lindor
A World Series appearance in 2016. A 22-game winning streak and another postseason appearance in 2017. Cleveland has found a lot of success on the field of late. You don’t get there without some star performances. For Cleveland, there have been several of them.
In collecting circles, there’s a level of respect for a handful of these players. However, there’s no clear favorite. Even looking at the list of 2017 Topps Now cards for the team and you’ll see that. A large number of the cards stemming from the record winning streak weren’t focused on a single player. Rather, it was about the team’s achievements.
Heading into the playoffs, the player in the Indians organization turning the most heads might be Francisco Mejia, a prospect with 11 games of MLB experience to his credit.
Mejia may be the prospect du jour, but Francisco Lindor is the franchise’s face when it comes to the hobby. He’s certainly known. Some of his key cards and Rookie Cards fetch a decent amount of attention. But to the level you’d expect from the offensive leader on a team that’s a favorite to appear in their second straight World Series? Nope.
With the Cubs finally winning it all last year, Cleveland now holds the longest drought in MLB. That’s part of the narrative that will likely play out for Lindor if his team does come out on top this year. If not, look for a continuation of Lindor’s overlooked status heading into 2018.
Francisco Lindor Baseball Card Checklist
Didi Gregorius
Didi Gregorius might not have quite the same level of stats as other players mentioned here, but he’s got something else — Yankee pinstripes. His numbers have been strong the past couple of years. In 2017, his 25 home runs set a club record for a shortstop.
Gregorius is also showing signs of coming up clutch. Among those moments was a game-tying homer against the Twins in the AL Wild Card game.
Love them or hate them, stars always shine brighter on Yankees. It’s just the way it is. This may give Didi Gregorius cards an advantage in the collecting world but it also brings with it more pressure.
Gregorius’ predecessor at shortstop, Derek Jeter, is proof that when you’re a star on the Yankees it’s more than just the base numbers that count. Leadership and character are traits that make stars in the Bronx just as much as home runs. Having both? Well, that doesn’t hurt either.
Didi Gregorius Baseball Card Checklist
Comments? Questions? Contact Ryan Cracknell on Twitter @tradercracks or by email.
