Logo-less Chrome, I mean Optic

What's one way to make Donruss better? Chrome it up. 2016 Donruss is a set I haven't picked up too many cards from. I'm not likely to bust many packs of Donruss Optic with some other new sets being available, but picking up singles of the Braves and a few others definitely interests me. I picked up a half dozen from Just Commons recently. 

Some base cards of the heart of the Braves order right now, who are suddenly playing much better and have won 10 out of 14 games as of Tuesday night. I will have to settle for a San Diego Kemp for now until he gets some Braves issues. Mookie was recently named AL player of the month for July.

And a few refractors, I mean Holos, the regular versions for Freeman and Betts, and an Orange parallel of Freeman #'d out of 199. The Orange Freeman is pretty sharp, although I wouldn't have identified it as Orange out of the pack necessarily.

Based on seeing these in person, I would imagine the Diamond King cards from Optic would look great. The Markakis will go on my wantlist.

2015 Finest Stack

Over the past week I've been catching up on sorting and putting my 2015 cards into binders. While I prefer the 2014 Finest design over 2015, some of the cards below are pretty slick.

Oftentimes cards like this fail to scan as well as I'd like, but these scanned nicely. You can even tell which cards are refractors. Here we've got the base card, followed by a Prism Refractor of Manny Machado. Adam Jones really picked things up offensively in the month of June.

Base, refractor, and black refractor of Julio Teheran. Maybe I should go after the whole set of parallels for him. Teheran is quickly becoming one of my all-time favorite Braves. It's been fun to watch him pitch despite getting little to no run support.

And a base and black refractor of Freddie. 

I don't understand why the different parallels aren't labeled somewhere on the back. Pulling these from packs it'd be tough to tell what you have, especially if you've been out of the game awhile. I wouldn't know the difference between a prism parallel and a regular refractor. But overall, a solid design. Over the last several years, I rank them this way: 1) 2014 2) 2015 3) 2016

2015 Archives Stack

Someone's playing catch-up. Posting about last year's Archives well after I posted about this year's set. In general bloggers seem to like 2016 Archives better than previous years.

A closeup of Julio. Glad the Braves decided to hold onto this guy. Some of the text on his card is hard to read because of the Braves uniform. Same thing on the Freeman and Chipper. Nice cards otherwise. Hoping Freeman sees some better pitches to hit now that Matt Kemp is in town.

A trio of Orioles. Eddie Murray is my favorite in this row. Fancy sideburns. Gausman is turning in a pretty solid season for the Orioles, who are right in the playoff race despite a pretty poor rotation overall.

Love this card of Hahn, a former Virginia Tech Hokie pitcher. He's been in AAA Nashville for a good portion of this season, but recently had a strong start for the A's. Hopefully he gets another opportunity for some consistent starts before the end of the season. He's proven he can be a reliable starting option over the last few seasons.

I was sad to see Alex Wood traded as part of the deal to acquire Hector Olivera from the Dodgers. We saw how that played out for Atlanta. Looks like Alex Wood might be back from injury in September and used in a reliever role.

This Kershaw is probably the best card in this post. He sure has some great cards over the last few years, doesn't he?

I would like the Braves from this row if the top part of the border was red rather than purple. The Machado looks great! Both of the Braves are of course with other teams. Shelby Miller has not fared too well since leaving the Braves, making his trade look even more lopsided as of now.

I agree with the verdict that 2016 beats the 2015 version of Archives, as nice as a few of these 2015 cards look.

Fluor Fragments of the Farm

Yesterday I went through the prospects from last year's talented Greenville Drive squad. When I saw that the Drive were included in this Fragments of the Farm relic set from Topps Pro Debut last year, I had to pick up this ballpark seat card from Fluor Field, home of the Drive.

Fluor Field features a replica Green Monster in left field. You can see part of it in the photo on the card. It is 30 feet high as opposed to the 37 foot Green Monster in Fenway. Fluor Field was made to emulate the feel of Fenway Park. I feel lucky to be able to watch games at a quality ballpark!

2015 Greenville Drive Team Set

Since moving to the upstate of South Carolina from Charlotte about three years ago, I've really enjoyed following the local minor league team, Greenville of the South Atlantic League. Last year's squad was filled with prospects, some of which are now with other organizations due to trades. I picked up a team set later in the 2015 season. Not sure any future single-A squad will have this many highly regarded prospects at one time again. Andrew Benintendi didn't get a card but played in 19 games for Greenville at the end of last season, and he's a top 10 prospect in all of baseball.

It's possible some of these guys may have been traded near the trade deadline since this post was written.

We'll start with the most notable, Yoan Moncada. He started off slow for Greenville but finished nicely and is having a great season, now in Double A Portland. He's listed as the #2 prospect in all of baseball on mlb.com. He's apparently learning third base which makes sense given Dustin Pedroia is locked in at second for the near future.

Chavis has power but has struggled to get on base, particularly during last season. He's doing better his second season in Greenville. The 2014 first round pick is still a top 10 Red Sox prospect.

Devers had a great season for Greenville in 2015 and has come on recently for single A Salem. He's got power and is still just 19 years old. He's the Red Sox third prospect behind Moncada and Benintendi.

Dubon was my personal favorite from last year's squad. He's a top 10 Red Sox prospect as well who plays middle infield positions. Great contact hitter and has speed. Could be a great utility guy down the road and is having a great season, now with double A Portland.

Guerra was traded to the Padres along with Manuel Margot for Craig Kimbrel. Guerra was listed as a top 100 prospect going into the season but has fallen off that list as he has struggled at the plate in 2016. He's still just 20 years old, though.

Michael Kopech recently hit 105 mph on his fastball. He's another first round pick from 2014 who's pitched well for single A Salem.

Longhi wasn't drafted as early as some of these other guys and doesn't have the hype around him, but he's had a great minor league career thus far. The card names him an outfielder, but he played first base for the Drive last season. 

You might have seen Aaron Wilkerson's name recently when he was traded to the Milwaukee Brewers as part of the trade for Aaron Hill. He's pitched well at each level of the minors for the Red Sox since he was signed from independent league ball in 2004. 

And what can you say, Reedy Rip'It is an awesome mascot. Reedy is named after the Reedy River that runs through downtown Greenville.

While the 2016 Drive don't match up prospect-wise with last year's squad, it's exciting to see top picks and international prospects come through on their way up the minor league ladder.

Adding to the Crime Dog Stack

I've posted McGriff cards from my collection previously showing him in non-Braves uniforms. While some of his best years statistically were in Atlanta, he only spent four full seasons and part of another with the Braves out of his major league career spanning 19 years. While I certainly appreciate the Crime Dog in a Braves uniform, I'm not going to limit my collection to those years. 

McGriff's first post-Atlanta stop was Tampa, where he played from 1998 to 2001 and then again in 2004. Definitely like the Devil Rays logo better than the current Rays. I guess a change was warranted after failing to win more than 70 games under the Devil Ray name. McGriff had his fifth and final all-star season in 2000.

Maybe my favorite card in this stack, McGriff spent the 2003 season with the Dodgers, playing in 86 games. He hit 13 home runs for the Dodgers, getting him within 10 home runs of 500 for his career. 

I missed out on the Bowman Heritage run. It looks like there are a few years of old Bowman that didn't get a modern set printed for them. Is this a brand that could be brought back?

Great design, great card. While he looks sharp in Dodger blue, can't beat a uniform with a tomahawk that didn't scan as well.

I recently learned that McGriff is in a front office role with the Braves as a special assistant to baseball operations. Maybe that will lead to a larger role with the organization as the team continues to build for the future.

Talked About So Much, but Still Underrated

Stadium Club photography is talked about all over the blogosphere and it's now the identifying feature of a modern Stadium Club set. While it's widely discussed, the photography is far and away better than any other set that I still think it's underrated.

I just picked up my first cards from 2016 Stadium Club the other day, but I realized I hadn't even posted about a stack of 2015 Stadium Club I picked up last year! 

Will the Braves rotation ever get back to where it was in the mid-90s? Seems unlikely, but they are trying with all the young pitchers the team is accumulating.

For the second year in a row, Adam Jones has a memorable card in Stadium Club. In 2014 it was flags with Jones running onto the field.

The All-Star, MVP candidate, and first-round pick and 'captain' of my fantasy baseball team this year.

I love a good sliding shot. First one I can remember featuring Freeman, although it's possible there's another out there.

 Another young pitcher having a solid year for a first place team. Notice the tongue.

My second-round pick for my fantasy baseball team, and my favorite player in the game today. These horizontal shots are great.

Definitely missing this guy this season. Erick Aybar has been pretty painful to watch.

Another of the more memorable cards from this Stadium Club release, I'm sure. Best pitcher in the game.

He may not be an 'ace' on every team, but he's our ace and all-star. He's also one of only three starters listed on the active roster as of Friday when this post was written. Sad times for the Atlanta rotation.

Wish I had thought of this card for a July 4th post. Perfect way to end things in this one.