These three cards are from last year's Tennessee Smokies team issued set that I picked up on my road trip in August. They join Carl Edwards and Kyle Schwarber as members of this set to play for the big league club.
I don't have anything really insightful to add but it has been fun watching this Cubs team grow from within and see these young guys get their due. All three have made an immediate impact and even if they are returned to Triple-A at some point to further their growth, they'll be back with the confidence they have what it takes to compete at the highest level.
Albert Almora and Willson Contreras both earned Topps Now cards when they hit the ground running so we'll have to see if Gerardo Concepcion will follow suit. In his debut last night, he struck out two Cardinals and retired all four batters he faced. Not necessarily groundbreaking but Topps has overlooked more and commemorated less so....
I have other major card issues from Almora and Contreras through Topps and Bowman but this is the only other Concepcion card in my collection. Last season, when I visited the Myrtle Beach Pelicans, they had previous season team sets for sale in their team shop for the Daytona Cubs and Kane County Cougars. They were replaced by the Pelicans and the Sound Bend Cubs, respectively as the Cubs Single A affiliates so I thought it was a nice touch on their part since so many of the players were still in the system. I didn't hesitate to pick them up.
Cubs announcers Len & JD commented how nice it was for Concepcion to have a familiar face in Contreras behind the plate for his debut. The photo above captured a nice moment between the two after Concepcion struck out his first batter. Contreras acted like a seasoned veteran, congratulating Concepcion and giving him the strikeout ball. What a moment!
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