A silver lining in an otherwise gray cloud

This shouldn't come as any sort of news flash, but the 2016 Atlanta Braves are pretty horrible. This marks the first season in many years where I don't tune in to many games on the television. Earlier this year I was contemplating if I even wanted to make a trip down to Turner Field in Atlanta for one last visit before the teams moves to Cobb Co. and their new SunTrust stadium. Overall it's been pretty blah of a season for me...until this young guy with a cool first name was called up.

2015 Topps Heritage Minor League #103

April 11th is the day when my outlook on this season started to change. Mallex Smith was called up from AAA Gwinnett and it has been a blast watching this young kid play. There hasn't been a lot of offense highlights this season, but the few there have been Mallex has provided.

2016 Topps Pro Debut #7

Through last night's game against the Padres, Mallex is batting .239, but has 32 hits, 7 doubles, 4 triples, 3 home runs and 20 RBIs. The kid has some speed on both the base paths and patrolling center field. He's been able to swipe 7 bases in the 48 games he's played.

2016 Bowman #BCAP-MS

It's still relatively early in the baseball card season so Mallex doesn't have a lot of cards (yet), but the few cards he does have seem to be heating up on the secondary market. I was able to get these autos for a very fair price, but forget some of the serially numbered parallels of the Bowman auto...those prices are starting to go through the roof!

It's been hard watching games this season, but the games I have watched that Mallex has played in I have enjoyed. I'm now looking at scheduling a trip down to Atlanta later this month to catch a game and I really hope he plays. Some of my favorite seats at Turner Field are in right center field so if he plays I hope to have a great view of his athleticism on display.