A few months ago I tweeted what prospects I was buying, selling, and holding. I wanted to make it a weekly feature backed by numbers.
The issue I had was that I’m not a true prospector. While I do keep tabs on the prospect market, I mainly pick up cheap base cards and autographs of players I think will have their hobby market rise in the coming years.
While at the National, I found a couple tables with recent Bowman cards and there were a few players I hoarded. One of them is on this list.
This will be an on occasion feature that I write about.
Who I’m Buying
Oneal Cruz
6’6” 175 lb. SS (20 years old)
Pittsburgh Pirates
Cruz has been prone to injury recently, and missed a good chunk of time early in the 2019 season. He was just promoted to AA, and is young at that level for a 20-year old.
The thin shortstop was signed by the Los Angeles Dodgers and traded to Pittsburgh for Tony Watson. Due to his height, Cruz will likely not stick at shortstop. It will be interesting to see him fill out his frame, and what his power numbers will translate in the coming years.
Currently, Cruz is ranked as the #3 prospect in the Pirates organization. He is still young, filling out, and will likely garner attention in Top 100 lists next year.
This is the time to stash Oneil Cruz. He is on the rise, young for his league, and has a frame that will fill out.
Who I’m Selling
Mike Tauchman
New Tork Yankees
Tauchman has been tearing it up for the New York Yankees this season. The 3rd baseman has a slash line of .305/.387/.588 in 64 games.
Reading some forum posts, I’ve seen comments like, “Tauchman gets no hobby love.” To me, that means I’ve in sell mode waving that white flag.
Tauchman is a 28-year old with just 116 career big league games under this belt. You can find Mike Tauchman’s Rookie Card in 2018 Topps Update in a Rockies uniform.
Buy Oneil Cruz. Sell Mike Tauchman.