someone explain the new card market?

[VoodooChild]

When I first got back into collecting around 2010, it was the modern card speculating that drew me in. You're right Peter, for every Trout (obviously) but even guys like Arenado that I "hit" on, there were at least ten guys like Rasmus and Snider that were big misses. Then I got into pre-war and vintage in 2013 and sold a lot of my modern. While I did make out very good on my "hits", my profits were limited due to the amount of misses. I still did ok though due to hitting more often with football.

Now, I just do a little prospecting for fun. I'll pick a few guys each year and not top-100 prospect guys. I do spend some time researching and I only buy hitters as pitchers are just way too risky and injury prone. I'll buy the lowest #'d chrome auto I can get for under $20 which is normally a /250 or /150. Then I just throw them in a box and see what happens in 5 years.

I just checked on a guy I bought a couple years ago named Hudson Potts (although his last name was Sanchez when he was drafted). Apparently he hit 20 dingers last year in A ball with a ton of K's though and is doing well in high-A now and striking out less. I think I got his chrome auto #'d/150 for like $15 and it's selling for 4 to 5 times that right now. I should probably cash out, but I'll roll the dice and see how he turns out. Like I said, it's just for fun.