The Topps Living Set keeps on going, and I have been diligently adding the Twins as they come up. Mitch Garver was penciled into the Living Lineup following the end of last season, and I picked up his card direct from Topps. I'm torn a bit on this, because I feel like they are overpriced for what you get with the Living Set, but I also don't want Topps to stop making them, so I still order the Twins straight from the horse's mouth.
Garver had a monster season in 2019, and was the AL Silver Slugger at the catcher position. His 31 homers were the Minnesota franchise record for round trippers by a catcher. He led all AL catchers in OBP, SLG, wRC+, and WAR.
Mitch Garver made his MLB debut in 2017 as a 27 year old, so he's already entering his age 30 season. He will be the primary catcher again for the Twins in 2020 as Jason Castro has moved on to the Angels. The Twins have Alex Avila and Willians Astudillo on the 40 Man Roster to help Garver stay fresh over the course of the season. Maybe the most impressive part of his 31 homers was that he achieved it in fewer than 100 games played. The Twins had an effective rotation between Garver and Castro behind the plate, which might be tough to match again.
Nice Elite auto! It's probably a good time to hoard Garver's cards - before the rest of the collecting world realizes how good he is. Garver's 2018 Topps RC was the last one I needed to finish the set and it took me quite a while to track down.
ReplyDeleteGarver signed a ball for me before a Spring Training game a few years back. I have a tendency to root for the guys that take the time to sign, and was happy for Garver's success last season.
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