Project Durham Bulls #30 - Justin Marks

2016 - 2017 Durham Bulls 

Background-

The A's drafted Justin Marks out of the University of Louisville in the 3rd Round of the 2009 MLB Draft.  At Louisville, Marks had been an All-Big East selection several times, as well as the Conference Pitcher of the Year in 2008.  He pitched in the Oakland system for a portion of the 2009 season and the 2010 season before he was traded to the Royals for David DeJesus.  Marks made it as high as Triple A with the Royals before he started bouncing around between several different teams:

• In June of 2014, Marks was purchased off of the Royals roster by the A's 
• Later that month the Rangers claimed Marks off of waivers from the A's 
• In July of 2014 the Rangers released Marks 
• November of 2014 Marks was signed by the Diamondbacks 

Marks would pitch the entire 2015 season with the Diamondbacks Triple A team.  The following season he would end up signing as a Minor League Free Agent with the Rays, which is how he ended up in Durham.  Marks went 7-11 with a 3.86 ERA during the 2016 season with the Bulls, but the highlight of his time in Durham was his no-hitter against the Syracuse Chiefs.....

Marks returned to Durham for the first part of the 2017 season, but was claimed by the Dodgers in May.  He spent the rest of the year with the Triple A Oklahoma City Dodgers.  

Marks has appeared in 6 Major League games with the Rays and Royals.  He has no career record.  

Card- 

Marks has a few autographed cards.  He has a nice Heritage Minors card from 2011 that I almost used for this post, but I went with a card that had him pictured in a Major League uniform.  It's not like any of his cards are really a stretch on the old PayPal account.  I had also considered his 2009 Donruss card, which has him in a Louisville uniform, but they were a Big East school at that point.  Not an ACC school at that point and I never saw him pitch in college. 

My two positives for choosing this card, beyond the fact that he's in a Major League uniform, were that the card came from the Bowman Platinum set and it's an on-card autograph.  On-card autographs are always a self explanatory decision, and while Bowman Platinum can be hit or miss on stickers, this card is sticker free.  Some years there is a combination of both, others just stickers.  I generally really like this product, appearance wise, etc, but that first year in 2010 was a stand out in my opinion.