Who is this? Southern Maryland Blue Crabs outfielder Gregory Porter
What is this? An autographed card from the 2007 Bowman Heritage set
Where'd I get it? Zach sent it to me. I'd guess that he got it signed at an American Association game.
Why is this so special? When Zach sent me this card, I'd never heard of Porter or seen him play. That changed earlier this month. The Southern Maryland Blue Crabs picked up Porter for the Atlantic League playoffs, and I got to see him make his Atlantic League debut. Porter went 2-for-4 and drove in the winning run.
Porter was a 45th round draft pick in 2001, so it's a little surprising that Porter made it onto nationally-released baseball cards. He did have a good year in 2006 for the Arkansas Travelers: .298 with 20 home runs and 71 RBI. In addition to the Angels, Porter played in the farm systems of the New York Yankees and Washington Nationals.
For the past two season, Porter has played independent baseball. In 2009, he was a Wichita Wingnut. This year, he was a Grand Prairie AirHog. (I love minor league team nicknames.) He hit .383 with 19 home runs and 83 RBI before coming over to the Blue Crabs.
Porter has a completely illegible autograph.
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3 comments:
Last season, Greg was the Baseball America Independent Leagues Player of the Year (or something like that). I was surprised such an award was out there.
I didn't know he was in the AL now. I guess that is a good thing about the length of the AL’s schedule. Not only do they pick up the Mexican Leaguers, they can also grab a few guys from the Am-Ass (sorry, that's what I call it)and the Northern League.
The Winguts traded his rights away this past off-season and I asked him about it while he was signing this card at the Am-Ass All Star game in July. I told him that the Wingnuts could sure use him right now and he told me that his wife lived in the Dallas area and that she was pregnant with twins. So, I understood his predicament.
If the American Association works anything like the Atlantic League, I can see the temptation to refer to it that way. :)
The Atlantic League playoff teams usually try to grab the stars out of the other indy leagues. Playoff rosters didn't have to be set until this past Monday - the final week of the season.
I don't really care for the idea of bringing in guys who've played somewhere else all season and pushing out players that have been with your team all year to make room. It doesn't really seem fair.
I know what you mean and I saw the same thing happen in Wichita after the Mexican Leage got over.
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