So, story time. Back when boxes of cards were actually affordable I used to do these box breaks for the blog, and a lot of them were older, cheaper products but one time I went for a box of 2019 Topps Heritage Minors. Why not, right? It was a pretty cool rip, I pulled a Jo Adell game-used jersey card whose value has fluctuated like a gosh darned barometer, and I pulled an on-cast autograph of a Brooklyn Cyclones outfielder named Carlos Cortes.
Now I don't really break these for the hits, I honestly do it for the XRC possibility. So a Julio XRC, a Robert XRC, an Oneil Cruz XRC, all this was the pull. The hits didn't need to be big, though the Adell didn't hurt. But getting a Mets prospect I hadn't heard of was...at least better than getting a Marlins prospect I hadn't heard of, which is my usual auto luck. Cortes could go either way. I kept the card, despite the occasional inclination of trading it.
I still have it. I reckon the value's gone up a hair this year.
Carlos Cortes has gone from a struggling power bat stuck in the Mets' farm system to a lead off schtarker with insane contact ability for the 2nd place Athletics. Cortes is now starting in right field, and hitting .333 with a .945 OPS. This was charming bench bat stuff last year, and now we're talking some lethal material, even for a 29-year-old who, for all intents and purposes, is still a rookie as far as Topps is concerned [of course, they also think anyone who debuts south of May 20th is a 'call-up' they can't profit off of til 2027, so what do they know?]. In a May that's featured injuries to Jacob Wilson and Max Muncy, Cortes has been steady, scary and more accurate than any other A's hitter, even Nick Kurtz.
It's incredible that a guy like this can become a heavy-hitter after all this time wasting away, but this is honestly the norm now. Even with the amount of pitchers most teams use now, there's still a longer wait for many prospects to actually make the bigs, hence the amount of 29-year-old breakouts we've seen in the last year or so, including Nathan Lukes, Curtis Mead, Foster Griffin, Tristan Gray and, yes, now Cortes. You can even root this back to Joey Meneses, who became an overnight sensation with Washington at thirty. As cool as these breakouts are, the career longevity is not there because the minors has ate up 5 prime years or so, so now they're breaking out, and 30 is around the corner and...well, there's gonna be a downturn. It's why Jeff McNeil and Whit Merrifield breaking out at 27 spelled doom for their long term value, though to be fair McNeil's still doing a fine job in Sacramento at 34.
It's also a contrast from the youth-oriented core the team has developed, though not from the noticeably older rotation that's, to be clear, working. Springs, Ginn and Civale are working on nice seasons, and while it's not the approach I expected, they're getting the job done. With Sevvy and Civale getting hurt, you are seeing a desire to bring the young guys out, and uh...hopefully Gage Jump evens out over time, because they cannot keep doing the 'GET READY FOR THE BIG A'S PITCHING PROSPECT' schtick only for them to give up 7 runs and immediately need surgery. Joe Boyle, Gunnar Hoglund, Luis Morales...shit's getting old.
The A's are still in a decent position, have no issue scoring runs and are still in the thick of the divisional race. This Yankees series has the potential to slow them down a little but they're ahead of where they usually are around this point.
Coming Tomorrow- He got out of Chicago at the right time, but is it the wrong time to be in San Diego?
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