Brewers' Best

Last night I wrote about a Durham Bulls player.  That happens often in this blog space.  Sometimes, I feel like I really neglect the rest of the great baseball that is played in my little corner of the world.  There is not a Major League baseball team in the state of North Carolina, but within an hour of my house I can get to:  

• Five Different Minor League parks: Durham, Zebulon (Carolina Mudcats), Fayetteville, Burlington, and Greensboro.  Kinston is just over an hour.   
• Three ACC baseball teams that are frequently ranked in the top 25: UNC, NC State, and Duke 
• The ACC Baseball Tournament is frequently held in Durham 
• The USA Baseball program is 10 minutes from my front door

I have often thought about finding more time and space to write about these teams and players.  I will be a little proactive about the matter and write about a former Carolina Mudcat tonight.  The team plays about forty minutes away from my house headed towards the coast from Raleigh.  In the decade plus that I have lived in North Carolina, the team has cycled through a few different affiliations.  The past two years, the Mudcats have been the Milwaukee Brewers team in the Carolina League.  

Last year the Mudcats best player was Keston Hiura.  I'd argue that he's also the Brewers' best prospect.  The second baseman was a first round draft pick out of UC Irvine back in 2017.  While he was there he played for the College National team as a part of the USA Baseball program, so I had seen him before he was in the Minors.  

Very good player.  

Hiura passing through town twice has sort of outweighed the fact that he is on the Brewers.  Easily one of the best prospects to pass through the area in the past few years.  

He's a top 50 prospect and you can buy his autographs for between $5 and $10.  Keston Hiura has actually hit while he has been in the Minors too.  Some of his autographs are actually quite pricy, but if you're like me, you just want to own an autograph of a good player, there is nothing wrong with finding something like this Bowman Tek card.  

The design on Bowman Tek cards this year is a lot better than Topps Tek in my opinion.  There is still something goofy behind the player picture, but it's geometric and fits into the overall appearance of the card well.  The diagonal name plate looks pretty nice too.