It's Draft Day

Were it not for COVID and labor disputes, the MLB would be nearing the halfway point of the season.  As it stands, fans will be lucky to get a half season this year.

Instead of the traditional MLB draft with 40 rounds, teams will only get 5 rounds this year. 

The MLB draft is going to be live on the MLB Network and ESPN tonight at 7pm. 

I have quite a few of Andrew McCutchen's 2005 Draft Pick card from 2005 Updates.

I am always looking to add more, but like to get them for around $3 per card. 

It's Draft Day

The NFL draft is by far the best draft for any of the four sports.  The reasons are pretty simple to understand.

-College Football is insanely popular and potential draftees must spend a minimum amount of years at college before they can be drafted.  That gives the average sports fan more time to learn about the upcoming draft class.

-The draftees audition at a combine that is nationally televised which gives (again) the average sports fan more of a window and rooting interest for those that can be drafted.

-The draft itself is an event filled with block parties, live music, celebrity cameos, and fan interaction.

-With each pick there is suspense that the potential pick could pick traded to another team.  All other sports allow this with the,exception of baseball.

-Once drafted the players have a strong chance to be immediately impacting that upcoming season's games.

I know MLB is trying to make the draft more entertaining to fans, but until the top talent has the opportunity to play in front of it's fans sooner, the fans have opportunity to see the players get drafted, and the scouting of future players is more approachable to fans (more College baseball on television) I just don't see the MLB draft progressing to the levels of the NFL or even NBA.

I began rooting for the Pirates and baseball in general back in 2005 in large part because of Jason Bay, Ryan Doumit, and wanting to see what this high school kid from Florida, Andrew McCutchen, could do.

Above are All my 2005 Topps Update Draft cards of Cutch.  As you can tell I have 15 base and 4 gold.  I would love to add more, but am in no rush as the price has to be right.

By Cutch's debut, Jason Bay was traded.
Ryan Doumit was nearing the end of his club control and many of the other players I rooted for over the past four years were already gone.

The signed 8x10 photo you see above is from Cutch just after he signed with the Pirates.  He was only 18 in the photo.

Can you believe this guy?

I always had a soft spot for the Houston Astros because growing up I was always around my uncle who happened to be really good friends with Ken Caminiti.

One player who is finally getting some national coverage is George Springer.  He has had 4 leadoff homeruns in the first week of the season.  

Fortunately for my fantasy baseball team, he has been a stud and I currently have 1st place on lockdown (still very early in the season). 

George Springer was drafted 11th overall in the 2011 draft.  In 2012 Bowman created dual autos recognizing the most recent draft with top stars of that time period who were drafted in the same spot.  

A few years back when Sports Illustrated predicted the Astros winning the World Series, they predicted a monster season for George Springer.  So far that prediction looks like it could have some merit.

What I don't like is that Topps got lazy and used the same writeups on the back of the Autograph version and the insert card.

What do you guys think about Springer's hot start to the season?  Can he keep it up?  A few years back he almost finished a shorter minor league season with 40/40 stats.