Collecting the Durham Bulls: Matt Andriese

Matt Andriese is a newcomer to the Rays organization after being sent over by the Padres as part of the Alex Torres trade this off season.  Last year Andriese spent a chunk of the season is Double A and also dabbled a little bit in Triple A in the Pacific Coast League.  He's not highly rated in any of the major prospect publications despite being a third round pick of the Padres.  Honestly, after watching him last night I kind of think that much of the return on the Torres trade was Logan Forthyse and minor league depth.  Andriese has a low 90s fastball and a decent breaking ball, but I do not see him having an impact at the next level. 

Matt Andriese does have a few baseball cards.  In fact I made fun of his Topps Heritage Minor Leaguers card last year because the San Antonio Missions have some terrifically terrible uniforms.  Nothing against Andriese.  His two primary baseball cards are a Donruss Elite autograph which features him as a Padres draft pick out of UC-Riverside and the card in last year's Topps Heritage Minor League set.  He does have an autograph in the Heritage Minor League set. 

 

There is that Missions logo again.  I picked this card up shortly after the trade with the Padres and I think it might have cost me $2.  Maybe.  There are also all the different refractors and color variations that come with a Heritage set and all of these can easily be found on both Ebay and COMC.  Andriese seems like the type of player who always does well with the Rays, so $2 for an autograph is a small price to pay for a player that the Rays might be able to do something with.  Maybe.