Fight On Boxberger!

My fall break has finally arrived and I have a few weeks to spend doing the things that I want to do.  This is my second break of the year, with winter break being first.  Other schools are just starting up and I am already a quarter of the way through my school year.  I spent the weekend on total relax mode which meant no posts, but I got to spend some good time with my parents, wife, and son.  Even went to a college football game and almost saw my alma mater, NC State, pull over a huge upset against Florida State.  The NC State quarterback is awesome....

So, what to do with the rest of my break?  I am going to do a little bit of traveling, but I also have a stack of cards sitting on my desk which need to be scanned and shown a little love on this blog.  I might also open a few boxes.  Bowman Chrome just came out and I have a jumbo box sitting at my local card shop.  Stadium Club looks cool too.  So, here's the first of my cards I need to catch up on....

I am a pretty big fan of Rays pitcher Brad Boxberger.  He briefly appeared for the Durham Bulls this year, after coming over from the Padres in a trade, and was lights out.  I even saw him close out a no hitter for Mike Montgomery.  After he was called up to the Rays he continued to dominate posting a 5-2 record with a 2.37 ERA, 104 strikeouts in 64 innings of work, and ERA+ of 158.  Kind of flying under the radar.

His rookie card is apart of the 2009 Donruss Elite set which featured draft picks in their college uniforms.  These patches are really cool and have always been some of my favorite prospect cards to find.  It's too bad they do not make these anymore.  Anyway, Boxberger was a USC Trojan and is shown on his card in a Southern Cal uni with a patch and an autograph.  This is my second copy of the card and was extraordinarily cheap on COMC.  

Another one of these in a day or so, but until then if you have never seen Boxberger in action.....

Collecting the Durham Bulls: Brad Boxberger

Someone remind me why this guy is on the Bulls?  Brad Boxberger was drafted by the Reds in the first round of the 2009 draft after spending his college career at USC where he was named second team All-American.  After being drafted by the Reds he was traded to the Padres in the Matt Latos deal and then traded again this offseason in the Alex Torres trade landing with the Rays.  Fans initially disappointed in the return of Logan Forsythe need to spend a little bit of time checking out some of the other players involved in the trade.  Like Boxberger. 

Boxberger has appeared for the Padres and pitched quite well.  In 42 games Boxberger has pitched 49.2 innings and recorded 57 strikeouts for an ERA+ of 131.  His WHIP is a little at 1.45, but overall he seems to be a good relief pitcher.  In fact, his Minor League performance has been down right dominating.  In 261 Minor League innings Boxberger has recorded an ERA of 3.48, but has a strikeouts per 9 rate over 12.  His WHIP is right around the 1.20 range for his career.  However, his numbers have actually gotten better in AAA.  Particularly impressive considering he pitched last year in the hitter friendly Pacific Coast League.

In over 100 Triple A appearances Boxberger's ERA is almost a half run lower than his mark in Double and Single A.  His WHIP is nearing 1 and a strikeout per nine rate that jumps to over 13.  This year has been spectacular and Boxberger has been a bright spot for the Bulls in the early going.  In 6.1 innings of work this year Boxberger has struck out 13 while yielding just 5 base runners.  On to the cards.

 
Boxberger was a high draft pick from a high profile college baseball program, so naturally he has a plethora of cool rookie cards.  If you are looking for something in the way of college baseball cards I would suggest looking for one of his Donruss Elite cards.  His Extra Edition card is a sticker autograph, but is pretty inexpensive and fairly easy to find.  He also has a really cool patch card from that set with a USC patch.  However, sellers on Ebay seem insistent on demanding exorbitant prices for the patch card.  COMC?  Funny story.

If you look on the COMC site for Brad Boxberger......

They have never heard of him, maybe. 

Note the seller on this Amazon item of a Donruss Elite Brad Boxberger patch card is COMC.  If I owned my very own card store would I sell cards on a competing website which was charging me commission fees?  I guess maybe I do not understand the COMC business model.  I'm confused.  This is a cool card and the price is not too bad.  Might have to pick this one up. 

Of course Boxberger has some other cards floating around too.  He has a Reds rookie card in 2009 Bowman set which can be found in the signed and unsigned versions.  I like the signed version myself, but to each their own. 

Boxberger can also be found in the Topps Pro Debut set as a Minor Leaguer in the Reds organization.  While his card catalog is not huge yet, I would suspect that Boxberger turns into a solid, if not good, relief pitcher for the Rays and has a bright future pitching in the Majors.  You can pick up his cards now, while they are pretty cheap, or wait until he reaches the Bigs.  All signs point to Brad Boxberger getting there soon than later.