2024 Topps Chrome

The 2024 Topps Chrome was released in mid-July. It always attracts collectors’ attention. This year, I ordered some hobby packs of the 2024 Topps Chrome on an online sports card shop. And those hobby packs arrived in early August.

 

Rookie cards are always an important part of this set and for me, I like to collect rookie cards. This time, I would like to see if I could get some cool rookie cards. Well, I found an interesting card and it’s a Henry Davis rookie card.

 

In the 2021 MLB draft, with the first overall pick, the Pirates selected Henry Davis. He didn’t spend too much time in the minors. In 2023, Henry Davis was called up to the big leagues. After seeing the rookie card, I decided to check on the MLB website to see the performance of the Pirates rookies in 2023.

 

Stats (Hitting, Pirates, Rookies, 2023)
Player	G	H	HR	RBI	SB	BA	OPS
Ji Hwan Bae	111	77	2	32	24	.231	.607
Henry Davis	62	48	7	24	3	.213	.653
Liover Peguero	59	47	7	26	6	.237	.654
Endy Rodriguez	57	41	3	13	0	.220	.612
Jared Triolo	54	54	3	21	6	.298	.786
Alika Williams	46	20	0	6	0	.198	.518
Nick Gonzales	35	24	2	13	0	.209	.616
Canaan Smith-Njigba	15	4	0	5	1	.125	.435
Vinny Capra	9	3	0	1	0	.167	.472
Drew Maggi	3	2	0	1	0	.333	.833

 

Ji Hwan Bae made his MLB debut in 2022, however, he only played 10 games for the Pirates in 2022. Last season, he played 111 games for the Pirates, hitting .231/.296/.311 with 2 home runs and 32 RBI. He was the only Pirates rookie that played 100+ games in 2023. At the same time, Henry Davis played 62 games last season. He slashed .213/.302/.351 with 7 home runs and 24 RBI. Davis smashed his first career home run on June 22, 2023. Moreover, 3 other rookies each played 50+ games for the Pirates. And Jared Triolo was the only one who owned an OPS over .700. And an interesting thing was that Drew Maggi made his MLB debut last season. Before that, he spent 13 seasons in the minors.

 

Stats (Pitching, Pirates, Rookies, 2023)
Player	G	IP	W-L	SO	ERA	WHIP
Jose E. Hernandez	50	50.2	1-3	62	4.97	1.36
Carmen Mlodzinski	35	36.0	3-3	34	2.25	1.28
Colin Selby	21	24.0	2-2	30	9.00	1.83
Luis Ortiz	18	86.2	5-5	59	4.78	1.70
Osvaldo Bido	16	50.2	2-5	48	5.86	1.50
Cody Bolton	16	21.1	1-0	22	6.33	2.11
Andre Jackson	12	43.2	1-3	41	4.33	1.12
Quinn Priester	10	50.0	3-3	36	7.74	1.70
Hunter Stratton	8	12.0	0-0	10	2.25	1.00
Kyle Nicolas	4	5.1	0-0	7	11.81	2.06

 

Now, let’s look at the Pirates rookie pitchers last season. Jose E. Hernandez made his MLB debut last year. In 2023, he made 50 relief appearances, posting a 4.97 ERA and a 1.36 WHIP over 50.2 innings. Additionally, he threw 62 strikeouts, most among the Pirates rookie pitchers. Meanwhile, Carmen Mlodzinski made it into the big leagues in 2023. He made 34 relief appearances and 1 start (opener), posting a 2.25 ERA and a 1.28 WHIP over 36 innings.

 

Finally, Luis Ortiz made 15 starts and 3 relief appearances last season. He owned a 4.78 ERA and a 1.70 WHIP over 86.2 innings. In the meantime, Osvaldo Bido and Quinn Priester each threw at least 50 innings for the Pirates in 2023. Nonetheless, Bido’s ERA was over 5 and Priester’s ERA was over 7.

 

Taking a closer look at the Pirates rookies in 2023, it wasn’t a great season for the team and those rookies. Henry Davis’ OPS was below .700 in his first season in the big leagues and an injury did bother him. Ji Hwan Bae had 300+ plate appearances in 2023, however, his OPS was below .700 as well. At the same time, looking at the pitchers, among those pitchers who threw at least 50 innings in 2023, none of them owned an ERA below 4. Nevertheless, in the 2024 season, it seems that things have changed because many Pirates fans have focused on the mound.