Dodger Under The Radar

Card collectors are funny sometimes with young players.  I was looking at a Tim Beckham card earlier in the week, it was a 1/1, and was basically told that the card was going to be "a minimum of $100 cause he was the number one pick and all".  I like Tim Beckham.  He's a Rays prospect and was on the Durham Bulls for the past year and a half, but if the Rays could redraft he would not be the top pick in the draft.  Why do collectors hold on to silly notions about draft orders or think that the top prospect of certain teams (like the Brewers) hold any value? 

I take solace in the fact that for every $100 Tim Beckham card I run into I can always find a few equally underrated cards.  After passing on the Tim Beckham card I did manage to land a nice Joc Pederson card from the same collector.  It did not even cost me $10. 

The card comes from my favorite 2013 set Bowman Inception.  I am slowly working my way to owning all of the autographs from this set, slowly, but this was a big one in my book.  Sadly, it appears too few collectors know Joc Pederson.  Let me fill in some holes so you can buy one of his cards sooner, rather than later. 

Pederson one of the better power prospects in the game at the moment.  Baseball America rated him as the 50th best prospect in the game pre-2014.  Basically his power has increased every year he has played in the minors and last year he had a successful season playing at Double A.  In 2011, Joc split time between Rookie Ball and A Ball, but managed a .323/.407/.503 line with 33 extra base hits, 11 home runs, in roughly 80 games.  In 2012, Pederson played an entire year in the High A California League and posted a .313/.396/.516 line with 44 extra base hits and 18 home runs in 500 at-bats.  Last year was a slight fall playing in AA, but he was a 21 year old playing AA.  Not too shabby.  His line was .278/.381/.497 with 49 extra base hits and 22 home runs.  

The thing I like about Pederson is the fact that he hits for power, but also shows some patience and manages to draw walks and get on base.  His lowest OBP over the last three years was .381.  How many teams would take that with more than 20 home runs?  The only downfall for Joc Pederson appears to be the fact that the outfield is rather crowded right now for the Dodgers.  I cannot imagine that they will block a legit top prospect with Andre Either, but sometimes I do not get some of the moves the Dodgers make.  That's for a different post.  

For the moment, your assignment is to go out and find a few good Joc Pederson cards for your collection while they are still relatively cheap and inexpensive.