Buy Local Part 3- Colin Moran

So far I have covered a high schooler and a Blue Devil with my Buy Local posts.  Today I am going to drive down 15-501 from Duke University to the other blue North Carolina school located in Chapel Hill.  The University of North Carolina has had a great run of baseball teams during the past decade headed by Coach Mike Fox.  There are several Major Leaguers or serious prospects that I could put in this space for a UNC post.  I will get to a bunch of them eventually, but for today I am going to focus on the school's most recent top amateur draft pick, Marlins third baseman Colin Moran.

Moran "slid" in the draft because he was picked sixth instead of the top 5.  He was one of the better players in the ACC last year, and in my opinion, the best offensive player.  His stance reminds me a lot of Andres Galarraga where he is a big guy with an open stance as the ball approaches.  I don't think he will have that kind of pop in the majors, but you never know what can be changed and improved with work in the minors.

Moran's one real weakness, again just my opinion, is once he gets on base he can be kind of a base clogger.  He's a smart base runner, but not a speed burner.  Here's a good example of a base hit to the outfield, not hit directly at the outfielder, with Moran on second he is thrown out at the plate.

He is also a good defender.  Not Scott Rolen or Nolan Arenado, but good.  I am always really surprised by his arm.  If he fields the ball cleanly and has time to throw there is an excellent chance the runner is out.  I think that Moran will likely be a good everyday Major League player, but I am not going to use the word great.  He seems like a guy who will get to the Majors quickly, but he is kind of who he is at this point.  Low ceiling, high basement would be my best description.  On to the cardboard.

2013 Leaf Draft State Pride Blue Colin Moran Autograph 

I recently had a chance to pick up my first Colin Moran autograph for the 2013 Leaf Draft set.  I'm not a huge fan of Leaf (long story that would make a great blog post) and was reluctant to pick up an unlicensed card, but the flag in the background and the fact that there are no other choices made this the only choice.  I know that Moran is on the initial checklist for Bowman Draft this fall, so maybe the choices will increase shortly.  Hopefully.  

His card prices are pretty reasonable as long as you stay away from the really low print runs of 5 and 10 on autographs.  If you have $10 and want a Moran autograph you will likely find one and have enough money left over to buy yourself a bottle of Cheerwine.  Given that Moran is on the Marlins, and is not named Stanton, I would guess that the trend will continue for sometime.  The Marlins always seem to have some good young players that baseball card collectors are slow to pick up on.  See Jose Fernandez.  Moran could hit 30 home runs for the Marlins next year and few would notice.