2018 Topps Heritage Minors Jo Adell #220

I bought a copy of Adell's short printed Heritage Minors card last fall, because I thought it might be a nice low-end single, especially if he impressed in spring training - unfortunately, the crown jewel of the Angels farm system will be out for 10-12 weeks after getting hurt during a game.

While injuries suffered saps some of the prospects rankings hype for Adell entering the year - hopefully his circumstances doesn't affect his rise towards becoming a big league star, even if he'll be on the shelf in the meantime.

I got another copy of the Adell card when I recently purchased a full hand-collated set [1-220], including the SPs [201-220] - there wasn’t an incentive to get last year's Topps Heritage Minors set because I didn’t go to the Arizona Fall League to sort of get started on getting at least 15-20 inked up.

However, because of the odd in-person or TTM opportunity to get some of the cards off this set signed, it’s hard to think about not having stocked up on the most recent Topps Heritage Minors set - I’ve tried to go ‘cheaper’ in years past, only buying the base 1-200 set, but just so there are no questions about not having certain cards, I got a set with the 20 short prints.

Featured autograph - Jo Adell

I picked up this certified first-year autograph of Adell, who is tearing things up with Inland Empire in the California League - he hasn't walked much, but the ball is flying off his bat [through 141 at-bats, he is slugging .638] and he might be the next hyped up super prospect in pro ball.

I was probably only vaguely interested in Mike Trout cards early in his minor league career and when he kind of broke out through the 2010 season - I was thinking I'd get his first-year autographs cards when the hype levels off.

I've been burned by throwing some money into a few prospects in the late 2000s - but it never dawned on me that I needed to jump on Trout's key cards besides some random prospect / insert cards I was probably looking to get signed in-person.

Because of Trout, there is a fear of missing out [FOMO] on certain prospects, even though Trout is a once in a generation talent - I'm going to need a lot of luck hoping a guy like Adell is even half the player Trout is for the Angels.

Adell's best mainstream first-year card is the super short printed 2017 Bowman Draft autograph - this particular card may not be Adell's best auto, even within the 2017 Bowman's Best product, but it is a card I hope to build upon in my regional collection.

2017 Bowman Draft Jo Adell #95

The plan was to get one of Adell's 2017 Bowman Draft Chrome autographs and/or a corresponding parallel - I was willing to spend as much as $75 for at least one or two copies, figuring while he was a first round pick, he probably wasn't the clear cut guy to get.

As is, Adell's Bowman Draft Chrome autograph were rumored to be short printed and thus is currently commanding at least $250-$300 on eBay - I realize die-hard prospectors are going to prospect, but there is just no reasonable buy in at this point.

Adell was the top prospect in the Angels system about a week or so ago - I can't imagine how much the new Angels' top prospect [Shohei Ohtani of course] MLB rookie-card autographs are going to command once released.

The best case scenario the SP issue is kind of bogus and more first-year Bowman Chrome autographs will come out - if not, all those speculators better hope Adell is the next coming of Willie Mays.