A couple of months ago, I was exploring an online sports card shop, and I found something interesting. A card shop was celebrating its anniversary and there were some lucky bags available. I decided to buy some lucky bags and after waiting for a couple of weeks, I finally got the products.
I got a 2022 Topps Tier One Game-used relic card. On the front, it’s a piece of game-used bat of Kyle Lewis. Very interestingly, the Topps company selected a cool photo of Kyle Lewis. It seems that he was on base with a big smile and a “V” sign. Kyle Lewis seemed to be extremely happy. Nevertheless, during his career, things are not always smooth.
Kyle Lewis made it into the big leagues in 2019. He played 18 games for the Mariners in 2019, hitting .268/.293/.592 with 6 home runs and 13 RBI. In 2020, it was a shortened season. Lewis had a pretty good season, slashing .262/.364/.437 with 11 home runs and 28 RBI over 58 games. With great performance in 2020, Kyle Lewis was awarded the American League Rookie of the Year in unanimous vote. It seems that he was off to a great start in his career. However, injuries gradually have become a problem. Due to injuries, he played 36 games in 2021 and last year, it was even worse, he played only 18 games. Yes, he only played 54 games for the Mariners over the last 2 seasons. In the shortened 2020 season, he played 58 games. We can see the huge differences in games played.
In December 2022, the Mariners decided to trade Kyle Lewis to the Arizona Diamondbacks and acquired Cooper Hummel.
While seeing this trade, it seems that there’s no winner from each team. By far this season, Kyle Lewis only played 6 games for the D-backs, hitting .167/.167/.389 with 1 home run and 2 RBI. Again, injuries limit his contribution to the D-backs lineup. At the same time, the Mariners acquired Cooper Hummel from the Diamondbacks. Hummel only played 10 games for the Mariners thus far. He collected only 2 hits over 26 plate appearances and was optioned to the minors in late April.
To date, Kyle Lewis hasn’t played too many games for the Diamondbacks. He was just activated from the IL in mid-June and the D-backs decided to option him to the minors. Well, we don’t know when the D-backs will call Lewis up. Meanwhile, Cooper Hummel has spent most of his time in the minors this season. When we look at the trades in the MLB, of course, the best trades are those win-win trades. Nonetheless, there are always some uncertainties after the trades, for example, some unexpected injuries. Looking at the trade between the Diamondbacks and the Mariners, at this moment, we can’t say that it’s a win-win trade. Now, there’s no winner in this trade. Neither the Mariners nor the Diamondbacks benefit from this trade. However, it’s still worth watching whether things will change later this season. Perhaps, Kyle Lewis will contribute to the D-backs lineup in the second half of the season and, in particular, will he get some clutch hits and stand on the base with a big smile as shown on the card?
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