Welcome to May's installment of TCI's Notables. As usually, I've selected two young notables to highlight. While I do occasionally select a comeback veteran, this is not the case this month, although I did seriously consider Carlos Beltran, Hanley Ramirez, or Chris Capuano as players who have come back from disappointing downturns in their careers. Many current stars continue to shine, such as Ryan Braun, Josh Hamilton, Carlos Gonzalez, Justin Verlander, and Cole Hamels. Other youngsters such as Giancarlo Stanton, Adam Jones, Andrew McCutchen, Mike Trout, Dayan Viciedo, Gio Gonzalez, and last month's Notable, Brandon Beachy, all appear to be fulfilling their lofty expectations.
I was prepared to write about Mike Trout's quick start in the majors, but at this point it seems so played out by so many other online scribes. That's when I noticed that there was another former top prospect that appeared to put up comparable numbers for the month of May, but didn't seem to get recognized as much. Jason Kipnis matched Trout's 5 HRs for the month and was only one behind Trout's stolen base total of 8 by safely attempting all 7 stolen base attempts. On the pitching side, James McDonald appears to have finally figured things out in Pittsburgh and have helped them to a decent .500 start, two months into the season.
Jason Kipnis
Jason Kipnis finished the month with a solid .810 OPS through an even combination of hitting, taking walks, and hitting a fair share of extra base hits. On top of that, as previously mentioned, he was very efficient on the basepaths. In all, he's done everything you'd want from a second baseman. Originally drafted as an outfielder by the Indians in the 2nd round of the 2009 draft out of college, he quickly showed an advanced bat and was promoted quickly through their minor league system despite being converted to second base. Needless to say, he's adapted to the position well and has performed consistently well at every level, which now includes the majors. As a prospect, before coming up to the majors for good in 2011, he was ranked as high as 3rd in the organization behind Lonnie Chisenhall and Alex White, who is now with Colorado. Although he has never been touted as a super prospect, he is very capable of continuing to hit for average and on-base percentage, while providing double digit home runs and stolen bases. I wouldn't be surprised to see him in multiple All-Star Games in his career.
When it comes to available cards, it's a little surprising to find that Jason Kipnis has relatively few key cards. In fact, before his first MLB Rookie Card logo cards appeared in 2011, he had only appeared in 2009 Donruss Elite Extra Edition, 2010 Bowman Chrome, 2010 Topps Pro Debut, and 2010 TRISTAR Obak. Even his 2011 RC issues are relatively scant, with MLB RCs only in 2011 Bowman Chrome, 2011 Bowman Draft, 2011 Bowman Sterling, and 2011 Topps Update. Although his first autographed cards came in 2009 Donruss EEE, the clear-cut key card to get would be his autographed issues in 2010 Bowman Chrome. It is important to not, however, that his 2010 Bowman Chrome autograph card is a redemption that is set to expire 9/30/2013. With such a narrow focus for collectors, it may be prudent to stash some cards away of this future All-Star.
James McDonald
Those of you who play fantasy baseball may recall James McDonald as a deep sleeper candidate back from 2009 when he was with the Dodgers. You may also recall that he just went on sleeping. His career never really took off with the Dodgers and he was dealt to the Pirates along with Andrew Lambo for Octavio Dotel. Dotel ended up pitching 19 games for the Dodgers before they unloaded him along with cash to the Rockies for a player to be named later (Anthony Jackson). While the Dodgers are doing fine without him, I'm sure they'd like to have this trade back. Now entering into his prime, James McDonald has appeared to have found the control he's been looking for as his walk rate has dropped more than a walk per nine from over 4 per 9 innings in past seasons to his current rate of 2.62 per 9 innings. In the past month he's translated that to 5 quality starts, only one of which he had more than 1 earned run. Combined with good strikeout numbers (39 in 35 innings in May), McDonald has quickly become a pitcher opposing teams would rather not see on the mound. His ERA for the year now stands at an uncharacteristically low 2.20, but his FIP of 2.41 suggests that none of this is smoke and mirrors. If he can keep the runners of the bases by keeping his free passes down, there's no reason we can't expect to see this former #2 Dodger prospect play up to his potential.
Ever since the implementation of the MLB Rookie Card Logo program in 2006, there have been relatively few players whose first issued cards also happen to be their true MLB Rookie Cards, which is why it is a little surprising to find that this former top prospect is one of those few. James McDonald's rookie cards appeared in a variety of later 2009 products, although Upper Deck was the only one that issued autographed rookie cards, including one in the controversial 2009 Signature Stars product, which was released after they had lost their MLB license. Amongst the offerings of autographed rookie cards, the two that stand out are his SPX (#/99), SP Authentic (#/500) and Sweet Spot (#/699) cards. All are from some of Upper Deck's strongest brands. While the SPx, and SP brand are a little stronger and are more limited, it is hard to ignore the better aesthetics of McDonald's only on card autographed rookie card with Sweet Spot. Ultimately, the SPx auto RC will be the one to chase in terms of best card. If you are interested in chasing all of his autographed rookie cards, he also has auto cards in UD Piece of History, UD Icons (#/399), UD Ballpark Collection (#/500), and Upper Deck X. He also has autographed manufactured patch cards (11 letters spelling SP Authentic numbered to 65 each) and triple autographed cards (with other players) in SP Authentic.
