Like Rhys Hoskins, But Cheaper

There have been so many home run hits this year.  It seems that no matter what team's stat page you check out, there are tons of players who have crossed the 20 home run mark, or more.  Is it now common place that the majority of position players are going to end up hitting 20 home runs, give or take, assuming that they receive a decent number of plate appearances?

I decided to flip through my cards a few weekends ago to check out some of the cards that I had from the big home run hitters during this baseball season.

Of course there is Mike Stanton.....

who is nearing 60 home runs.  As a Cardinals fan, I remember the excitement around the McGwire/Sosa home run chase in 1998.  I got to see Big Mac's 70th home run in person.  It feels odd that there isn't a little more excitement surrounding Stanton's pursuit of number 60.  I will be watching this weekend, feels like more people should be too.

The American League has Aaron Judge.

He has crossed 50 home runs and broken Mark McGwire's rookie home run record, which was set with the A's in 1987.  Judge is not only leading the AL in home run, he also is leading the league in strikeouts and walks.  Pretty cool feat.  

As a Cardinals fan I have had fun watching Paul DeJong....

who has 25 home runs, 51 extra base hits, it just over 100 games this season.

Recently I decided that I was going to try and track down a few other players who have enjoyed break out season during this baseball season.  I made a list and went out looking for what was out there.  The most obvious choice, given I am going with the whole home run theme, would be to try to find a cool Rhys Hoskins card.  He was the International League MVP this year, so that's where I started my search.

However....

there are not many of them and they are all off brand, non-licensed, cards like Leaf and Panini.  Although someone tried to flip me one of these for my Judge autograph.  LOL.

So, I went to the second name on my list, which was Matt Olson from the Oakland A's.

and I was shocked.  It was the opposite of looking up Judge cards, or Hoskins cards.  I think Judge and Hoskins are fine players, but when you look up auctions for young players and think, "I could buy this card or a very nice Stan Musial card" it's time to just keep moving....

Olson's cards, when I bought this one, were under $10.  Has anyone actually look at his stat sheet?  They have doubled over the last week, or two, but I still ended up with two of his cards.  One for today, another for a different day.  Here is the first one......

I love the Bowman Inception cards and could not pass this one up.  The art/pictures always seems really well done and you always get an on-card autograph with this set.  No stickers stuck on cards.  The back of the card.......

What's not to like?

Some quick numbers on Olson and Hoskins, as a Cardinals fan I can tell you they are both better than DeJong.  Hoskins is at 48 games, Olson is at 59 games, so there is going to be a little disparity between some of the counting number stats.  Olson is at 24 home runs, Hoskins is at 18.  Olson's slash line is .259/.352/.651, while Hoskins is .265/.401/.642.  Olson is at 2.4 WAR and Hoskins is at 2.1 WAR.  Too me, the biggest difference is the fact that Hoskins takes walks, Olson is more of a free swinger.

In a normal world there probably wouldn't be a $100 difference between a Hoskins and Olson autograph, but here we are.....