2007 Tristar Prospects Plus, Josh Smoker

#FH-JS3 Josh Smoker

When I was pondering this post a couple of days ago, I thought it was going to be an short and easy one. I have had this card for a while and I was pretty sure that Josh had not played in the Majors yet and I was right. Since this card is about nine years old, I just assumed that Josh was out of baseball since he hasn't made it to the top yet. Turns out I was wrong there. Though he has yet to play ball above the AA level, and has only pitched in 21 innings of AA ball, Josh is still going strong. In fact, he is currently rated as the twenty-fourth best prospect in the Mets system.

A former first round pick by the Nationals, Josh pitched in their system for six seasons. He never got above high-A and was plagued with injuries that cost him much of the 2012 season. The Nats released him and he missed all of 2013. He pitched in the Frontier League in 2014 and did good enough to get signed by the Mets last season. With them, he pitched at three level, culminating in AA, and dominated at every stop. He pitched in 49 innings last season and went 3-0 with 6 saves, a 3.12 ERA, and 60 strikeouts. Not too bad for a guy out of the Frontier League.

This card was sent to me by Matt, from Heartbreaking Cards of Staggering Genius, many years ago. Until recently, I assumed Josh was a position player because he was wearing Oakleys in the picture. I was a bit off on that one.

According to the Mets website, Josh can hit 98 mph on the radar gun and he is currently on their 40 man roster.

On a side note, I got my first TTMs from Spring Training back today. I got a card signed by White Sox number one prospect, Carson Fulmer, and a card by Nationals number eleven prospect, Blake Perkins.

2007 Tristar Prospects Plus, Mike Moustakas

#21 Mike Moustakas

Here is the second Mike Moustakas card that I have posted on here. The first one was posted back in June when I was just getting started on my cards from 2007. Here I am nearly nine months later and I haven't even got to my 2007 Upper Deck cards yet. Five years ago, I thought that I was eventually going to run out of cards to post on here. While that is not ever going to be an issue, it is a little troubling that the newest cards I am posting are almost ten years old. But, that is the format I used when I started this blog and I am a little resistant to change. So, I guess it is going to stay that way for now. Luckily, pack issued minor league cards came back around that time and occasionally I will post a player that is relevant today, like Moose here.

I got this card signed in 2010 at a Northwest Arkansas Naturals game. The NWA Natties, as I call them, are the Royals AA team. My buddy and I stopped there on the way back from the Rickwood Classic and were barely able to get into the ballpark. The Natties play in Springdale, Arkansas which is around Wal-Mart's corporate headquarters. When we got to the game, it was sold out because Wal-Mart bought all of the seats for a huge corporate outing. Luckily, I was able to sweet talk the guy at the ticket booth to sell us two berm seats. Otherwise, it would have been a wasted trip to that portion of the Natural State.

The game sucked as the Natiies got blown out, but I got a decent about of cards signed and saw Moose hit a home run. So, it wasn't a total wash.

Since I posted that last card of Moose, he became an All Star and Wold Champion. Plus, he had career-highs in average (.284), home runs (22), and RBI (82). 2016 was good to him. I hope 2017 will be, too.

2007 Tristar Prospects Plus, Clayton Mortensen

#7 Clayton Mortensen

Here is a card of Clayton Mortensen that I got signed at an Omaha Storm Chasers game last season. Clayton was pitching for the Chasers at the time and he was nice enough to sign two cards for me prior to the game starting.

To date, Clayton has pitched in the Majors for five seasons with four clubs- the Cardinals, A's, Rockies, and Red Sox. Originally drafted by St. Louis, he pitched in just one Major League game for them before being traded to Oakland in the Matt Holliday deal. He then pitched in seven games for the A's before being dealt to Colorado. He pitched in a career-high 58.1 innings with the Rockies in 2011 before being traded to Boston. He then lasted two seasons with the Red Sox before being traded to the Royals. He has spent the past two seasons playing AAA for the Royals.

For his Major League career thus far, Clayton is 6-11 with a 4.68 ERA. His best season came with the Red Sox in 2012 when he appeared in a career-high 26 games and posted his best ERA of 3.21 while striking out 41 in 42 innings of work.

Clayton is pictured here with the Swing of the Quad Cities. Yes, that was the actual name of the team. Usually the Quad Cities River Bandits, the team changed its name for all of three seasons before changing it back to the River Bandits in 2008.

This card would have came out looking better if Clayton hadn't signed over the dark area on the bottom of the card. But, he also signed a horizontal card that was with this one, so he must have been tilted and did not feel like coming out of it. Hence the sideways signature.

2007 Tristar Autothentics, Travis Denker

#75 Travis Denker

Here is the second card that I have posted on here of Travis Denker. This one was obtained late in the 2014 season at a Wingnuts game. Travis was playing for Laredo at the time. I posted the last card this past April and it can be seen here.

When I posted that last card, Travis was playing in Mexico. He played for the Reynosa Broncos all season and hit .264 with 10 home runs and 70 RBI. After the season in Mexico was over, he rejoined Laredo and helped them down the stretch. He played in 20 games for them and hit .361 with 4 home runs and 15 RBI. He helped the Lemurs clinch the Am-Ass wild card spot en route to an eventual league championship.

The two cards from this set that I posted are the only two I own. Based off of the two cards, I am not a big fan of this set. There is just way too much border on these cards and not enough picture. I get that the set was meant for the randomly inserted autographs, but they could have mixed up the look of the autos and the base cards better. As far as I can tell, the only difference between the two, besides that signature, is the lack of a team logo on the bottom of the signed card. That is where the signature is. Either way, this set could have done a little better. But, that was in Tristar's early years while it was trying to figure everything out. Too bad they did not last long enough to figure it out.

On a side note, right now you can pick up a Nick Adenhart autograph from this set on COMC for about four bucks.

2007 Tristar Autothentics, Van Pope

#30 Van Pope

He is a card from the former Braves prospect, Van Pope. I got Van to sign two cards for me in 2011 at an Amarillo Sox game while he was with the Sox. I posted the first card later that season and it can be seen here.

Van had a very good season in 2011, hitting .299 with 10 home runs and 61 RBI. Unfortunately, nothing big came out of it and he was back with Amarillo the next season. He had an off year that season and hit .281 with just 2 home runs and 24 RBI in 53 games. Van called it a career after that season.

About a month ago, I was watching "The Great Food Truck Race" on Netflix when the trucks stopped in Amarillo for a challenge. They had to set up shop outside of the Sox ballpark for a challenge and Van was actually in the episode presenting the winning team with a key to help them out later on in the city. I was probably one of only a handful of people to see that episode and exclaim to my wife "hey, I have his autograph!".

2007 Topps Heritage, Mike Jacobs

#414 Mike Jacobs

There is nothing quite like a card that looks like a 1958 Florida Marlins card to bring back a bit of nostalgia. While I love the Topps Heritage sets because of the cardstock and how well they come out looking signed, there are obviously a few drawbacks. But, to Topps credit, I think this card looks good. If there was a team in the 1950s sporting teal on their uniform, their '58 Topps card probably would have looked pretty similar to this.

This is the third card of Mike Jacobs that I have posted on here. The first one was posted over four years ago and the last one was posted in September. The signature on this card was obtained at Royals Fanfest in 2009.

To my surprise, Mike spent all of last season playing in Mexico. I know he hasn't appeared in a Major League game since 2012, but I figured someone would want a guy on their AAA team that could mash right-handed pitching. In 2014, Mike hit .299 with 19 home runs and 99 RBI for the D-Backs top minor league affiliate.

Though Mike only played with the Royals for one season, I really liked him. He might have struggled against lefties, but he was a great guy that was always willing to sign for fans. For me, I will take a .228 hitter with some pop, that is fan-friendly, over a .300 hitter, that is a dick, any day.

2007 Topps Heritage, Eliezer Alfonzo

#364 Eliezer Alfonzo

Here is a card that I got signed at a Colorado Sky Sox game in 2011. Eliezer was playing for the Sky Sox at the time and was nice enough to sign two cards for me. I posted the first card about three and a half years ago and it can be seen here.

When I posted that card, it appeared that Eliezer's time in affiliated ball might have come to an end as he had just finished up a season in Mexico. But, he was back in the Pacific Coast League the next season with the Albuquerque Isotopes. That gig, though, lasted only 19 games where he hit .284. The rest of the season, and all of 2014, were spent back in Mexico.

It seems like Elizier's playing days are pretty much over as he did not play last summer. He continues to play in the Venezuelan Winter League, though, so there is always a chance. But, those chances are getting slimmer for a thirty-seven year old catcher.

Nevertheless, he did play in 193 Major League games with the Giants, Padres, Mariners, and Rockies. Over parts of six seasons, he hit .240 with 17 home runs and 67 RBI.