The Durham Bulls had a really good infielder on their team.
I am talking about Osleivis Basabe.
He played a little bit at second, short, and third base. Pretty good bat to go along with his versatility in the field. Osleivis call-up was a little strange and happened during a Bulls game I attended against the Memphis Redbirds a few weeks back.
The Bulls posted a video without any sound of Basabe getting pulled from the game.
— Durham Bulls (@DurhamBulls) August 13, 2023
Strange the Rays needed a shortstop in the middle of a game. I follow the Rays pretty closely and I did not see anyone get placed on the injured list. I thought the Rays had a shortstop? His name is slipping my mind at the moment, so let's not wander off topic.
I am just going to keep talking about Osleivis Basabe.
I have been able to add two Basabe autographs to my collection so far.
First up is his 2021 Bowman Chrome autograph from his time with the Rangers.
Nice looking card of him at Spring Training.
I know there are people out there who, in the past, probably sank a lot of money into buying up Bowman Chrome autographs of Rays shortstop prospects. However, Basabe's Bowman Chrome autograph is right around $20. You could skip a box of cards at Target or Wally World and buy an autograph of the Rays starting shortstop instead.
A little background on Osleivis.
Basabe was signed by the Rangers as an International Free Agent out of Venezuela in 2017 and was traded to the Rays for Nate Lowe at the end of the 2020 season. For those who confuse all the Lowes on the Rays, Nate was a first baseman. Nate played on the Rays with Brandon Lowe, who is not related to Nate. The Rays now have Josh Lowe, who is Nate's brother and also teammates with Brandon Lowe. Anyway, Osleivis has been promoted from A-Ball all the way to the Majors over the past three seasons.
I also found a Bowman Platinum autograph of Osleivis Basabe in a Rays uniform.
It's a sticker autograph, but it also cost me less than $5.
I feel like Osleivis Basabe might be my go-to infielder to collect on the Rays for the foreseeable future. Although, he created some waves earlier in the season when he stole Wool E. Bull's hat while the Bulls were celebrating a walk-off hit.
— Durham Bulls (@DurhamBulls) June 25, 2023
I guess I could think of worse things that a talented, young shortstop could get caught doing then running around with a mascot's hat. No MLB investigations or anything.
In the meantime, the Bulls have Austin Shenton taking a lot of at-bats as the shortstop since Basabe was promoted to the Majors. Another really good looking prospect. Shenton is older prospect, almost 26, and drafted out of Florida International by the Mariners. The Rays picked him up in the trade for Diego Castillo. Shenton has 26 home runs and 42 doubles between Double A and Triple A this year.
His autographs are also pretty cheap.
Less than $5 for this Bowman Chrome.
For this entire post, I am under $30 for three autographs of three pretty promising Rays middle infielders. Maybe some more cards of Basabe and Shenton in the future. Let's see how they play and hope they don't wander into any problems.
I know that you've shown up Franco cards in the past; hopefully you weren't too heavily invested (for lack of a better word) in his stuff.
ReplyDeleteI never bought anything high end, but still have a decent stack of his cards.
DeleteHope Basabe becomes a household name. I can barely keep up with MLB... so I have almost no spare time in my schedule for prospects in the minors. Wish I did though. Every now and then... I think it'd be cool to pick a few guys and track them.
ReplyDeleteConsidering I have to consult Baseball-Reference to still correctly pronounce his first name (Oh-Slay-Veece), I too cannot wait for Basabe to become a household name.
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