Player Focus: Freddy Sanchez

Freddy Sanchez, last year's NL batting champ, had a slow start this season, but has really picked up his game in recent. Through the end of July, he was only hitting .290 and averaging 1.5 HR & 9.5 RBI per month. In August (through 8/28), he's hitting .386 with 5 HR & 28 RBI, with a .458 OBP. Kind of reminiscent of his hitting a year ago, but with more power.

Sanchez's rookie cards never really made a big impact in the hobby, and still aren't ringing up any record sales. I did a search on ebay for "freddy sanchez rc", and only two cards came up listed on auction (there were more listed at fixed prices in various ebay stores). Of the two listed, only one of them was really his RC card from '02 (the other was an '03 issue). I think that people are holding back his key cards, like his 02 Bowman's Best Auto & BB Bat and 02 Finest Auto, waiting for values to increase. At 29 years old (he'll be 30 in December), I'm not sure if that day will ever come. He unfortunately didn't have a break out season until he was 28, making him a lot older than these other up-and-coming star hitters like Ryan Braun (23), Alex Gordon (23) or even Ryan Raburn (26). I'm sure that there is a market out there for Sanchez cards, but I would say that the broader collector base would probably prefer to buy into younger players that would have a potentially longer career of great performances. Personally, I am a Sanchez supporter, and wish the best for him as a player, and for his cards as part of the hobby.