Graphing Recap - Aberdeen Ironbirds at Greensboro Grasshoppers

Because Rob Manfred seriously jacked up the minor leagues, opportunities to graph Orioles prospects in Kinston have become a lot harder to come by.  This season, unless I go on the road, I won't see Delmarva at all.  I missed a couple classes of Oriole prospects the last couple of years, so when I saw that I could catch Aberdeen in Greensboro this past weekend, I hit the road.  The High Point game on Saturday supplanted a possible 2-game viewing of Aberdeen, but the graphing at the Rockers was well worth it.  That left me with a 2PM game on Sunday in Greensboro, which ended early enough for me to get home at a reasonable time.

One of the key cards I wanted to see signed at this game was the above 2002 Bowmans Best Ruben Gotay relic card.  I found it on Sportlots for a steal, not knowing it was a relic card.  It looks awesome, even though Gotay's autograph isn't much to look at.

I realized this morning that I had several other Callix Crabbe and Ruben Gotay cards that I had ordered, then mistakenly put in the wrong stack.  So, I will have to go back to Greensboro to get those taken care of.

The graphing of the Grasshoppers was a big case of missed opportunities.  One guy I missed last season when I went was Sammy Siani, whom I finally got on this 2020 Topps Pro Debut.  I ran into a fellow grapher that I see from time to time, and he showed me three other guys with cards that I just flat out missed when I was searching my boxes.  Oof.  Better luck next time.

Another oof was that I paid $20.00 to get Hudson Head TTM a couple months ago.  If I knew then that I would see him in Greensboro (and get the same card signed), I would have saved the money.  Oh well.

My mistakes aside, I was very successful in graphing Aberdeen.  I only ended up with one unsigned Orioles card, and that was an extra of last year's first round (#2 over all) pick, Colton Cowser.  He was one-per inside, and signed again for us outside (again, one per).  The above dual with Reed Trimble was the card he signed outside.

Coby Mayo signed every card I had in my book.  I only had one 2021 Bowman draft base card of former ECU standout, Connor Norby.  Donta' Williams signed 2 cards inside and my remaining card outside.

Finally, John Rhodes was one-per inside, then signed my remaining two cards outside.  I ended up with a couple extras of the Aberdeen guys.  All of them were pretty nice.  I gave Norby a little bit of crap outside, since he went to East Forsyth High School.  I went to West, so I had to represent.  We laughed about it.  He seems like a really nice guy.

I enjoyed Greensboro, even though I messed up a bit and didn't bring all of the cards I needed.  The good thing is, the field is close, so I can always go back later this summer.  In all, I got the following autographs:  Colton Cowser x 2, Donta' Williams x 3, Connor Norby x 1, Coby Mayo x 4, John Rhodes x 3, Sammy Siani x 1, Hudson Head x 2, Callix Crabbe x 1 and Ruben Gotay x 2 (19 total autographs).

TTM Success - Colton Cowser

When this TTM success came in, Colton Cowset had not yet been drafted by the Orioles.  The same thing happened last year when Heston Kjerstad was drafted; I had previously gotten the guy TTM, not he's an Oriole.

The cards I got signed by Cowser turned out really well.  The signature is hard to see on this 2020 Stars and Stripes, but it looks nice in person, I assure you.

Cowser (b. 2000) was drafted by the Orioles in the first round (5th overall) in the July 2021 anateur draft out of Sam Houston State University.  He is currently at Low A Delmarva, after spending a few weeks in the Florida Complex League.  He has 13 hits, 1 home run and a .464 batting average so far this season.

I mailed to Cowser on January 22 and got the cards back on March 15, for a 52-day TAT.