2013 Topps #646 Phillippe Aumont: Phillies Green Parallels = Christmas Cards

My first thought when I saw the a Phillies player on an Emarald Parallel was Christmas. In fact for 2013 Topps Green parallels, I pretty much think that for any player who's team color is red.

2013 Topps #646 Phillippe Aumont

See What I mean. Not only are they green, but the chormium pattern/texture evokes a hybrid of tinsel and pine needles.  

Phillippe Aumont has been an enigma for the Phillies since he was acquired from the Mariners in the second Cliff Lee deal.  Aumont was drafted by Seattle with the 11th overall pick of the 2007 draft. The hard throwing lefty has put up a respectable 1K per inning strikeout ratio at all levels including the majors. And his Hits/Inning ratio is equally good at about 1.0 H/IP. The trouble is his insanely high walk numbers - 13 BBs in under 20 IPs for the Phillies in 2013. He was sent back to Lehigh Valley where his walk numbers were even worse.

Statistically Aumont's problem appears to be more than just wildness. He simply will not trust his stuff. Aumont is yet to give up a Home Run in 34 major league innings.  As a professional he has never yielded a HR/9 of more than 0.7 in any of his six seasons. His H/9 numbers have never been above 10 for a full seaosn. He is clearly trying to hard to avoid contact.

Phillipe Aumont will be only 24 years old when the 2014 campaign commences and remains protected on the Phillies 40-man roster. The Phillies erratic bullpen could certainly use Aumont's power arm if he can sort out those high walk numbers. 

Phun Phact
In 8 career play appearances (all in the minors) Aumont has but the ball in play once (sacrifice). His other 7 PAs have resulted in 5 Ks and 2 walks


Sources
Baseball-ref.com
Philies.com

Swag from Nachos Grande Group Break and Phillies 2013 Topps Checklist

Showing off a couple cards I picked up in a recent Nachos Grande Group Break. One box each of 2013 Topps S2 and 2012 Topps Archives.

Here are somie of the goodies from Series 2.

2013 Topps Chasing History Roy Halladay

The flip of this card mentions that if Halladay got a Win before his first L in 2013 he would reach 200 wins with only 100 losses. Of course it didn't work out that way and he currently stands at 201-104.

Parallel

2013 Topps #646 Green and Base Version

For the Phillies I am calling these Green (or is it Emerald) parallels, Christmas Cards.  I am a closet parallel junky. I hate to admit it - in general I like them. However, I am not insane crazy about them, I don't need to build sets of them or anything like that.

The 2013 Topps design has so much white on the border that the color does help. I am not a fan of the coloring within the picture background.  

In the break I ended up getting the entire 2013 Topps S2 Phillies team set.  Here is a look at the checklist for Phillies cards from the combined 2013 S1 & S2 sets.    

2013 Topps PHILLIES Checklist (from teamsets4u.com)

6 Ryan Howard

26 Chase Utley

33 Cliff Lee

71 Kyle Kendrick

83 Darin Ruf RC

152 Jose Contreras

197 Tyler Cloyd RC

206 Jimmy Rollins

249 Vance Worley

264 Roy Halladay

332 Cole Hamels

361 Erik Kratz

367 Carlos Ruiz

410 Roy Halladay

424 Steven Lerud (RC)

472 John Mayberry

514 Jonathan Papelbon

625 Domonic Brown

637 Ben Revere

646 Phillippe Aumont RC

2013 Topps

The break in the list is the separator between Series 1&2.  The biggest ommision is Michael Young (who curiously is featured in a Phils Uni on an Opening Day card).  Delmon Young has a Phils card in Gypsy Queen but not base. Biggest MIA after that are Antonio Bastardo, Freddy Galvis and John Lannan. Near as I could tell John Lannan has not been issued a Phillies card in any product.

The oddest thing Topps has done is putting Jose Contreras in 2013 Topps as a Phils pitcher.  He last pitched for the team on 6/1/2012.  He was just picked up last week by the Red Sox after being dumped by the Pirates.    

Source
Teamsets4u.com
baseball-ref.com
ebay.com

2009 WBC #5 Phillippe Aumont

2009 Topps WBC #5 Phillippe Aumont

On Tuesday the Phillies added Phillippe Aumont to their roster, filling in for Jeremy Horst who is on the Paternity leave list. 

Aumont was the 11th overall pick of the 2007 Draft by the Mariners - He came to the Phillies as part of the 2009 Cliff Lee trade.  

Since this is a paternity leave for Horst, this may only be a short call up for Aumont.  Hopefully he gets into a few games and can show the Phillies something.  His numbers at AAA Lehigh Valley in 2012 are mixed - 4.26 ERA in 44.1 innings.  He does have 59 Ks - of course that is offset by 34 walks. 

For The Collector

The above card is from the 2009 Topps World Baseball Classic set.  This was a 55 card set that came in a blaster.  The sets initially sold for $20.  I occasionally see the set at about half that price.  There is a Yu Darvish card in the set which contains a mis of stars and lesser know international players.

etc

Phillippe Aumont Baseball-Ref page
Phillippe Aumont Wiki page