Finally Matuella

A quick post for your Sunday morning.  Hoping to post a little more this week than I did last week. 

Two years ago I had the opportunity to see Micahel Mattuella pitch a game for the Duke Blue Devils.  He was easily the best player on the field and I was excited to follow his college career.  Heading into his junior year, last year, many thought of him as a candidate to be the first overall pick by the Diamondbacks.  However, early in the year he was shut down and ended up having Tommy John surgery.  His stock dropped, but the Rangers ended up picking him in 3rd round of the draft last summer. 

Matuella will be making his first appearance in a Minor League game at some point this summer.  I am hopefully that he can bounce back from the Tommy John and be a serious prospect for the Rangers.  In the meantime, the talented former Blue Devil has started to pop up on some baseball cards.  One of the best parts of going to college baseball games is watching players, seeing them drafted, and then finding their cards a few years later. 

This is my first Matuella baseball card, but certainly will not be my last.  I am usually not into the Leaf cards, but some of their draft cards look nice in spite of the fact that the logos are airbrushed off of the uniforms.  I like this card with the giant North Carolina flag in the background.  Really nice card.  Hopefully I will have a few more Matuella autographs soon.  I have two other autographs of his on my radar, one with Duke, another with the Rangers.