Zapped and Blown Away

Kenny has made it a habit to hook me up with a ton of great Pirate prospect cards.  In terms of cardboard this most recent trade continues that trend, but with one major exception.  I knew this was heading my way, but it did nothing to temper my excitement when it was in hand.

Seriously, how cool is this! Candelaria is one of my favorite Pirates as his unique look made for some great cardboard over the years, but this 8x10 is something even more special. Kenny took it upon himself to get the Candy Man to personalize it for me with the Bob Walk the Plank inscription. A true 1/1!

To go along with this great piece Kenny sent me a traditional Zapping....

It was a pretty big deal when the Pirates signed Heredia. He was being courted by all the big teams, but he had been tied to the Buccos the whole time. Heredia was only 16 when the deal was done, but many scouts believed his size and arm strength was very projectable. Today Heredia is still in the Pirates system, but the prospect status is long gone.  I doubt he would he even fall into the top 20 prospects within the system anymore. Some of that is testament to how good the system is, but Heredia hasn't shown any progression with his stuff. I'm guessing this coming year will probably be make or break for him as a Pirate.

 Tucker got hurt relatively early last season so he pretty much lost his first full year of development. The Pirates are high on both him and Kevin Newman so it will be interesting to see there development. I suspect Newman will be fast tracked since he was a college player.

 First of all this is really cool looking card. The blue wave parallels are really nice. Glasnow will make his debut at some point next year barring injury. He is the Pirates top prospect and projects to be a front line starter which would be a very nice compliment to Gerrit Cole The only downside is command issues as Glasnow is a huge kid.  I got to see him pitch the very first Black Bears game as he was on a rehab assignment and you could tell his stuff was nasty and that his fastball had a ton of velocity.

 Vintage Buccos are always welcomed!

Meadows has been a nice pick by the Buccos. He seems to be moving through the system quickly as a high schooler. Also, I'm always happy to get his cars in trade. He is very expensive on eBay.

 3 of the more accomplished Buccos and Andrew Lambo who was just claimed by the A's.

 A nice mix of Bowman Buccos. Harold Ramirez and Reese McGuire are both pretty big prospects.

The last big surprise was the NY Penn League All Star Game program from 2014.

Thanks so much Kenny for the Candelaria and all the extras. Rest assured I'll find something unique for you to keep the trade momentum going. I plan on framing the Candy Man and maybe putting it in my office at work!

Thanks for reading!