Tabs

▼

Sunday, April 15, 2018

Opening Day seems like forever ago

Maybe it's because the season started in March, but Opening Day feels like it was more than 2.5 weeks ago.

Since starting out of the gate with two homers, Giancarlo Stanton has only gone deep one time. Coming off of 59 homers, it would be easy to expect the number to be twice that so far. But he endured a pretty brutal slump and has only recently started to turn it around.

I'm not particularly worried. It's a 14 game stretch, and he was definitely pressing to impress the home fans for the first time. It feels a lot like Alex Rodriguez in 2004.  In his first April in NY, he only hit .253 with 4 HRs and 8 RBI. Even for the year, he hit 36 Hrs and drove in 106. While respectable, that was coming off of three straight huge years in Texas, and then in 2005 followed by an MVP-season with 54 homers. There's no doubt there's an adjustment period.

As long as he stays healthy, Stanton will put up solid numbers and be an asset to the team. He won't replicate 59 homers I assume, but what if he hits 42? Hardly something to sneeze at.

Regardless, I loved his Opening Day performance, and it was an easy decision for me to pick up the Topps NOW card commemorating the day.
Topps also added a holographic technology to the back of the card, which is new this year. I didn't know Topps NOW counterfeiting was an issue, but I assume this will help combat that.
Pretty cool card, and I expect to add a few more of these this season.
at

4 comments:

  1. P-town TomApril 15, 2018 at 11:50 AM

    I really like the stats on the back. All of my HS baseball players are riding the exit velocity train. It's their favorite stat to talk about and they yell fictitious "exit velo" numbers during batting practice when someone gets a hold of one. That being said, if you're looking for distance, sometimes it's about the launch angle.
    Can't wait for Stanton to adjust... he's not exactly helping me in fantasy right now.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Collecting CutchApril 15, 2018 at 4:57 PM

    N.Y. fans can be brutal to the players and forget that small sample sizes (good and bad) do happen over a 600+ at bat season. I hope for Stanton he's able to figure out the NY media and fandom. He's one of my favorite players to never have played in Pittsburgh.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Community GumApril 15, 2018 at 9:32 PM

    The Topps Now cards are starting to become some of the best cards they put out. I hope Stanton does well. He's one of my favorite non-Cubs players

    ReplyDelete
  4. FujiApril 16, 2018 at 11:48 PM

    I normally don't root for Yankees players... but I'm quietly cheering for Stanton. You gotta appreciate the guy's raw power.

    ReplyDelete