AL Wild Card Game: 2015 Topps #318 George Springer

The last time the Astros were in a postseason game was game four of 2005 World Series. Pre-Phillies Brad Lidge took the loss in the game, he is now retired. Craig Biggio batted leadoff for the Astros, he was just inducted into the Hall of Fame. Brad Ausmus started at catcher - he is currently managing the Detroit Tigers.

Tonight there will be a whole new set of Astros on the field.

2015 Topps #318 George Springer (rookie cup/future stars)

One of those new players will be second year right fielder George Springer. 

Prior to the 2014 season Springer was ranked #18 in Baseball America's prospect rankings.  The 11th overall pick of the 2011 draft has put together a pair of solid half-seasons. The trouble is the other half of the last two years Springer has been on the shelf. His rookie campaign ended due to a lingering quadricep injury and this year he missed two months with a broken wrist.

While on the field his Springer has hit 36 career Home Runs in 683 ABs, His .276 BA this season is a vast improvement over last years .231. During each of the last two seasons a potent 126 OPS+.

Springer's dWAR number in 2015 was a positive rather than the negative it was a year ago - this has helped put him at a +3.8 WAR this season an improvement over his rookie +2.0.  

2015 Topps Rookie Cup
George Springer's 2015T card contains the always nice Rookie Cup flair. This card also has a Futures Stars stamp - a tag that Topps brought back in 2014,  Not as much of a fan of this tag, but I am glad Springer got the recognition.

Sources and Links
CBS Sports - David Brown
ESPN/AP
baseball-ref

2014 Topps #1? Yasiel Puig Parallels

I thought 2013 Topps was a decent but not great design.  However the Design was a great pallet for the numerous colored parallels that Topps likes to put out each year. 

Night Owl Cards discusses this more thoroughly in a column published this past weekend.  

Topps previewed 2014 flagship a few weeks back and the cards have a similar white border as 2013, which gives us the potential for another year of good looking parallels. With the help of Pixlr team Phungo looks at some of the possibilities.         

Faux 2014 Topps #1 Yusiel Puig Red Target Parallel

I get my cards at Target mainly because it is the most convenient big box for me. A side benefit is that they brand red and their partnership with Topps yields Red Parallels, which is a solid color for Phillies cards. However a Dodger collector may prefer Walmart.  

Faux 2014 Topps #1 Yusiel Puig Blue Wal-Mart Parallel

Notice that I have guessed at Yusiel Puig as card #1 for 2014 Topps.  The Base card was the first image I saw from 2014 Topps promotional material (via Cardboard Connection) - it differs a bit from the vanilla base cards carrying the "Future Stars" flag above Puig's name. This looks like a foil version of the logo used in 1987 Topps. The Futures Stars weren't at the top of the lineup in 87 Topps but I thought they may take a page out of 89 Upper Deck and Open with Future Stars in 2014.

Faux 2014 Topps #1 Yusiel Puig Chrome

Later in the season when Topps Chrome comes out it may appear as above

Faux 2014 Topps #1 Yusiel Puig Black Parallel

The Black Parallel would of course be serial numbered to 63. The black parallels, may actually look pretty close to this, which is pretty sharp.

And Finally 

2014 Topps #1 Yusiel Puig Whacky Colors Prallel 

It could happen. Who knows what Topps will do when they run out o parallel colors

Sources

Cardboard Connection

Night Owl Cards